10 wholly ignore women’s fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution98 contribute to the legal uncertainty on when legal abortions may be allowed. Further, the same policy has not only been used as a basis to restrict women’s and girls’ access to abortion; anti-choice groups have also used the same provision to attempt to de-list certain contraceptives. In ALFI—the case questioning the FDA’s re-evaluation and re-certification of 77 contraceptive products and devices— the Court called on the FDA to ensure that contraceptives “do not harm or destroy the life of the unborn from conception/fertilization.”99 While the state policy commits to provide protection to the life of a pregnant woman and does not solely protect the fetus, the Court failed to protect women’s lives when it ordered the FDA that, in evaluating and approving contraceptive products, “all reasonable doubts shall be resolved in favor of the protection and preservation of the right to life of the unborn from conception/fertilization.”100 In directing the FDA to comply with this rule, the Court adopted the argument advanced by religious and anti-choice groups to observe the “principle of prudence.”101 While these types of restrictive interpretations could be avoided by removing the policy under the Constitution on the equal protection of life of the woman and fetus, drafts and amendment proposals to the Constitution which are pending before Congress102 and submitted by the ruling party, PDP-Laban,103 have retained this provision. Recommendations on abortion received by the state party since 2016. Since the Committee’s 2016 review, the state party has been urged by human rights bodies to amend its law on abortion. The ESCR Committee expressed concern on the criminalization of abortion which has led to “a growing number of unsafe abortions and very high maternal mortality rates including among adolescents.”104 The ESCR Committee recommended that the state party “take all measures necessary to reduce the incidence of unsafe abortion and maternal mortality including through amending its legislation on the prohibition of abortion to legalize abortion in certain circumstances.”105 In 2017, during the third cycle of the UPR, the state party took note of a recommendation from Netherlands to “[t]ake immediate steps to permit abortion in cases where a woman’s or a girl’s life or physical or mental health is in danger, where the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest and in cases of fetal impairment, with a view to decriminalizing abortion in the near future.”106 C. Ongoing abuse and stigmatization of women seeking post-abortion care In relation to women’s access to post-abortion care, the Committee in its summary report recommended that the state party ensure access to quality post-abortion care, reintroduce misoprostol, and ensure that women seeking post-abortion care are “not reported to law enforcement authorities, threatened with arrest, or subjected to physical or verbal abuse, discrimination, stigma, delays in access to or denial of care.”107 The Committee also recommended that the state party ensure the privacy and confidentiality of patients particularly in the context of post-abortion care and establish mechanisms for women and girls to lodge complaints “without fear of retaliation.”108 Current legal framework on post-abortion care. Women’s and girls’ access to post-abortion care is guaranteed under national laws and policies. Under the Magna Carta of Women, the right to health include access to services on the “prevention of abortion and management of pregnancy-