CEDAW/C/PHI/Q/6/Add.1 (a) Ligtas Buntis (Safe Pregnancy) Campaign provided information and counselling on the use of Family Planning (FP) services to 4 million women and men (b) “Contraceptive Self-Reliance Strategy” aims to help local government units (LGUs) provide FP services and commodities to their clientele. This strategy includes the promotion of public and private partnerships whereby the private sector helps in procuring the needed FP commodities while the public sector provides the services. It may also include commodity swapping procurement wherein the health department will procure other health commodities to free other resources to procure FP commodities. (c) Networking with NGOs, such as the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines which provide direct FP services to clients – Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development, Reproductive Health Advocacy Network, and Reproductive Rights Resource Group which are in the forefront in pushing for the passage of the RH Bills in both Congress and Senate, as well as in advocacy, public awareness, and capacity-building of legislators and LGU officials, youth and other sectors. Other noteworthy FP program/activities include the deployment of 630 volunteer health workers in KALAHI (a community-based poverty alleviation program, detailed in responses to Question 25) areas of the NCR for the provision of FP services to the urban poor; training of barangay health workers in 250 municipalities on Community-based Management Information System and FP provision; door-to-door FP campaign; and local endeavors such as the UNFPAassisted Gattaran Birthing Center Project in Gattaran, Cagayan highly acclaimed for its consistent “Zero Maternal Death” in the past five years. Due to the devolution, the health department no longer directly buys commodities to supply the local hospitals and health centers. Instead, local hospitals and health centers are directly supported by their local governments which determine which commodities shall be bought. While there are a handful of local government units that have indeed banned the sale and use of artificial contraception, there are also those that have strongly supported health rights for women and promoted and distributed artificial methods of family planning. The province of Aurora, for instance, developed the first Reproductive Health Care Ordinance that was passed in 2005 which ensures the provision of RH services. There are also DOH-run specialty and tertiary hospitals which provide family planning services. 23. Please indicate the extent to which illegal abortions contribute to the maternal mortality rate, which, according to the report, remains relatively high (para. 445). Please also provide details on the content of the Reproductive Health Care Bill, which ‘cites the need to remove legal barriers to abortion’ (para. 481) and include update information on progress regarding its adoption. There was an estimated 473,408 induced abortions in the Philippines in 2000. Induced abortion accounts for 76% of hospital admissions due to abortion. Twelve percent (12%) of all deaths related to pregnancy were likewise due to abortions (DOH PMAC Policy 2000). Unsafe abortion is the 4th leading cause of maternal deaths in the Philippines (DOH). Maternal mortality rate in 2003 was placed at 107.7/100,000 live births. (NSO 2003) Induced abortions are caused by unwanted/unplanned/unintended pregnancies. Of the total 2,607,699 pregnancies in the Philippines in 2000, 55% are unintended. This is a result of decreased 22