The Penal Code, which has not been revised since 1930, sets out the current criminal ban on abortion.107 Fears of arrests and prosecutions under the ban are justified: even after the inquiry visit, local media has reported instances of women seeking abortions108 and people providing or assisting with abortions being arrested.109 Notably, this ban continues to exist notwithstanding the enactment of the MCW, which required the state to review and, when necessary, amend and/or repeal existing laws that are discriminatory to women within three years of the law becoming effective in 2009. 110 The RPRHA, enacted after the MCW and a month after the Committee’s inquiry visit, reaffirms that abortion is illegal and punishable by law111 and states that, “reproductive health rights do not include abortion.”112 b. Draft penal code with increased penalties for abortion The Department of Justice (DOJ) undertook a project to update and modernize the Penal Code.113 One of the initial drafts of the new code promisingly provided for “justified abortions”, which would be legally available in cases where pregnancy results from rape or incest; where continuation of pregnancy endangers the life of the pregnant woman or seriously impairs her physical, mental or emotional health; and where the fetus suffers from incurable disease or serious deformity.114 However, despite calls to reinstate the “justified abortions” provisions by local advocates,115 the DOJ instead submitted to Congress a revised draft code that not only maintains the complete criminal ban on abortion, but also imposes increased penalties for those involved in the performance of abortions.116 If the draft is approved, a person who provides or assists with an abortion with the consent of the woman may be subject to up to twelve years imprisonment and a fine equivalent to ten to fifty times his or her average daily income.117 A woman who obtains an abortion will remain at risk of imprisonment for up to six years, with an added fine equivalent to ten to twenty times her average daily income.118 III. Access to and Quality of Post-Abortion Care (Arts. 10(h), 12) The Inquiry Report called on the Philippines to provide women with access to quality postabortion care in all public health facilities, including by (1) ensuring that women experiencing abortion-related complications are not reported to the law enforcement authorities, or subjected to physical or verbal abuse, discrimination, delays in access to or denial of care; (2) reintroducing misoprostol to reduce women's maternal mortality and morbidity rates; and (3) adopting a patient privacy policy to ensure doctor-patient confidentiality, specifically when treating women for post-abortion complications.119 In a study released by the Guttmacher Institute after the Committee’s inquiry visit, it was found that over 100,000 women sought treatment for abortion complications in the Philippines in one year (2012).120 This study showed that approximately 2 in every 3 women who terminate a pregnancy experience a complication121 and around 1 in 3 women with complications do not receive post-abortion care. 122 Further, abortion was one of the top three obstetrics and gynaecology cases in nine hospitals managed by the DOH in 2012 and 2013.123 Women’s lack of access to quality post-abortion care has been noted by the Committee previously. In its 2006 Concluding Comments, the Committee had similarly called on the Philippines to “provide [women] with access to quality services for the management of complications arising from unsafe abortions and to reduce women’s maternal mortality.”124 7