What is the Reproductive Health Bill, RH Bill?

The Reproductive Health bill, popularly known as the RH Bill, are Philippine bills aiming to guarantee universal access to methods and information on birth control and maternal care. The bills have become the center of a contentious national debate. There are presently two bills with the same goals: House Bill No. 4244 or An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health, and Population and Development, and For Other Purposes introduced by Albay 1st district Representative Edcel Lagman, and Senate Bill No. 2378 or An Act Providing For a National Policy on Reproductive Health and Population and Development introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago.

What is the composition of the RH Bill?

The basic content of the Consolidated Reproductive Health Bill is divided into the following sections.

1. Title
2. Declaration of Policy
3. Guiding Principles
4. Definition of Terms
5. Midwives for Skilled Attendance
6. Emergency Obstetric Care
7. Access to Family Planning
8. Maternal and Newborn Health Care in Crisis Situations
9. Maternal Death Review
10. Family Planning Supplies as Essential Medicines
11. Procurement and Distribution of Family Planning Supplies
12. Integration of Family Planning and Responsible Parenthood Component in Anti-Poverty Programs
13. Roles of Local Government in Family Planning Programs
14. Benefits for Serious and Life-Threatening Reproductive Health Conditions
15. Mobile Health Care Service
16. Mandatory Age-Appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education
17. Additional Duty of the Local Population Officer
18. Certificate of Compliance
19. Capability Building of Barangay Health Workers
20. Ideal Family Size
21. Employers’ Responsibilities
22. Pro Bono Services for Indigent Women
23. Sexual And Reproductive Health Programs For Persons With Disabilities (PWDs)
24. Right to Reproductive Health Care Information
25. Implementing Mechanisms
26. Reporting Requirements
27. Congressional Oversight Committee
28. Prohibited Acts
29. Penalties
30. Appropriations
31. Implementing Rules and Regulations
32. Separability Clause
33. Repealing Clause
34. Effectivity

What is the opinion of the Church on the RH Bill?

Opponents of the bill see the bill as allowing the Filipinos to be fooled by the deceptive manipulations of American imperialism and eugenicist control, using United Nations Agencies for its own national interests, and to use Philippines' own national funds to kill the youngest Filipinos, harm its own mothers, and encourage immorality. They see the bill as an act of disrespect and ingratitude to the Catholic Church that works for the poor and the sick, and for the education and development of Filipinos. They accuse the Philippine Legislator's Committee on Population and Development as "essentially a foreign body" that has drafted the bills, and that its "2008 lobbying fund of two billion pesos comes from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, IPPF and UNFPA the latter two both well known for their global agenda to legalize abortion." They say that a two-child policy will make the country fail to cash in on a possible demographic dividend of rapid economic growth, and great reduction of poverty, a chance for complete modernization without destruction of human life and promotion of immorality.


Download the final version of the RH Bill

Download the RH Bill PDF (4.6 MB)*

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[Source: Wikipedia.org]