WHEN Spain issued a law that eases up on abortion in 2010, the world was shocked. Abortion, the law said, can be done on individuals as young as 16 or 17 years old “without restriction” – for up to 14 weeks of pregnancy.
In the Philippines, the news stirred a ruckus. After all, it was Spain who brought Christianity into the country.
Many Catholics in the country were surprised why Spain legalized abortion. Since 1930, abortion has been a crime under Philippine law. The 1987 Philippine Constitution further underlines this when it stated that the State “shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception.”
“Abortion is strictly prohibited under all circumstances, even in cases where the woman has been raped or there is a real danger to her life and limb if she continues the pregnancy,” notes “Handbook Philippines,” edited by Niklas Reese and Rainer Werning.
“The Philippines is among the handful of countries left in the world that has held on to such an absolute prohibition,” the handbook notes. “Whoever dares to advocate against this unconditional regulation risks being publicly shamed and branded as a ‘killer.’”
But despite this, abortion is widely resorted to by women faced with unplanned pregnancies. Every year, more than 60,000 Filipino women are reported to have been injured from illegal abortion, with 1,000 dying from complications. The Genevabased World Health Organization (WHO) puts annual abortions at nearly 800,000, one of the highest rates of unsafe abortions in Asia.
“Because of the absolute prohibition, women have to secretly perform these abortions by themselves or seek out unqualifi ed ‘healers’ – 90,000 women had to seek medical treatment for complications arising from these unsafe abortion practices,” the handbook points out.
Records available from the Department of Health showed that between 1994 and 1998, abortion-related complications were the third leading cause of hospitalization in government hospitals, trailing after regular births and lung infections.
One in fi ve pregnancies in the country ends in abortion, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. Every year, a thousand women die due to abortion-related complications. While some doctors secretly perform abortions in clinics, the P2,000 to P5,000 fee is too high for many women, so they instead buy abortifacients on the black market, that is, from vendors near churches.
“I refused to be taken to the hospital,” explains Josie, an abortion survivor. “I was afraid that I would get imprisoned. I bled for more than a week.”
Women who abort their fetuses risk a prison sentence of up to six years, while anyone providing help or assisting faces a similar sentence.
Undergoing abortion is sort of a hell. “When she squeezed, it was so painful I wanted to kick her,” said one mother who had an abortion done by a “hilot.” “I bit the blanket. I wanted to cry but I felt I had to contain myself.
The pain was worse than childbirth.” “Unsafe abortion is a very serious public health issue, a silent scourge,” commented a health offi cer, who oversees the monitoring of abortion cases and maternal deaths for the health department.
