29 Jun The Denial of Reproductive Health Is a Threat to Our Lives
The availability of the oral contraceptive gave women more control over their bodies. It gave women more options, and more freedom, to decide whether or not they’ll have children. It allowed women to plan the timing of her pregnancy. The pill has been a powerful enabler of the women’s rights movement ever since its introduction.
Women were no longer forced to stop their schooling because of an unplanned or an unwanted pregnancy. Women were abler to join the workforce. They were given the ability to pursue long-term careers.
Some women were given the opportunity to delay having children to start their own companies.
As a result, women gained more financial independence, and made them less dependent on their partners. Two-income households also provided a safe and secure home for many families. The birth control pill finally allowed women to take control of their lives.
Maybe that’s exactly why some conservative groups in the Philippines have campaigned for the denial of these reproductive health options.
These groups continue to pretend that Filipinos are conservative and traditional. In other words, they would like to believe that we are either not having sex, or doing it exclusively for the purpose of making babies.
There is just no rational justification for the campaign against contraception.
One of the recent headlines in the Philippines reads, “Condom may be last contraceptive standing.” This article by Mayen Jaymalin of The Philippine Star highlights the growing fear that by 2020, the only contraceptive available to planning couples is the condom.
That’s just outrageous! It is as if people have intentionally ignored every significant study that finds a link between reproductive health and economic development:
In 2012 there was a study done called, “The economic consequences of reproductive health and family planning.” The study aimed to gather information on the benefits of access to reproductive health services.
According to the study, “findings from long-term follow-up showed that women’s earnings, assets, and body-mass indexes, and children’s schooling and body-mass indexes, substantially improved in areas with improved access to family planning services compared with outcomes in control areas.”
In 2016 another study was done on the issue called, “Economic Benefits of Investing in Women’s Health: A Systematic Review.”
In this study, researchers found that, “the development and economic performance of nations depends, in part, upon how each country protects and promotes the health of women. Providing opportunities for deliberate family planning; healthy mothers before, during, and after childbirth, and the health and productivity of subsequent generations can catalyze a cycle of positive societal development.”
These are just two examples from a wide body of literature that encourages nations to ensure access to these services. Every single year, more and more scientific studies declare the importance of access to reproductive health services. There is no excuse for denial of reproductive health services.
Whatever religious or moral justification conservative groups have for campaigning against contraceptives should be overruled by decades of scientific research done around the world. We can’t allow the backward ideologies of a few people compromise the health, freedom, and, ultimately, the lives of our people.
Please sign the appeal to the supreme court of the Philippines to lift the TRO affecting family planning!
Sources:
Jaymalin, M. (2017, March 13), “Condom may be last contraceptive standing.” The Philippine Star. Retrieved on: April 19, 2017.
Onarheim, K. H. “Economic Benefits of Investing in Women’s Health: A Systematic Review.” PLoS ONE. Retrieved on: April 19, 2017.
Canning, D. “The economic consequences of reproductive health and family planning.” The Lancet. Retrieved on: April 19, 2017.