Health department urged to implement RH law fully
PRO-RH LAW. Supporters of the RH law gather in front of Supreme Court displaying portraits of poor children. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Now that its constitutionality has been affirmed, it’s time to implement the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health law, one of its principal authors said on Wednesday.
“I urge the executive department, particularly the Department of Health, to fully and expeditiously implement the RH Law,” former Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said a day after the Supreme Court rejected all petitions questioning the constitutionality of the controversial law.
“The constitutionality of the Reproductive Health Law is now complete, final and indubitable,” Lagman said in a press statement.
In its ruling on Tuesday, the high tribunal denied all motions for a reconsideration or reversal of the court’s April 8 decision declaring that the RH Law on the whole was not violative of the Constitution.
“The RH Law mandates the government to provide to the marginalized sectors necessary information, services and commodities on reproductive health even as it grants the freedom of choice to couples and women on the use of legal, safe and effective methods of family planning,” said Lagman.
In a unanimous vote, the high tribunal denied “all motions for reconsideration, subject to the same positions indicated by the specific justices on the specific section declared to be unconstitutional.”
Among the rejected petitions were a plea for reconsideration filed by the Filipino Catholic Voices for Reproductive Health, seeking to restore the penal provisions in the law, and those of the Task Force for Family and Life Visayas and Pro-Life Philippines Inc., asking the court to strike down the law.
But the high court also retained its ruling declaring eight provisions under the original law’s implementing rules and regulations as unconstitutional.
These include those prescribing penalties for healthcare professionals and public officers who refuse to provide reproductive healthcare, and the need for marital or parental consent for those seeking these services.
The RH law provides for universal access to reproductive healthcare, including sex education, maternal care and contraception. After years of debate, it was passed in 2012 in spite of vigorous opposition from the Catholic Church.
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