Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Eleven senators on Tuesday rejected Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile’s proposed amendment to remove the words “safe and satisfying sex” from the definition of the controversial Reproductive Health ( RH) bill.
Only six senators voted for Enrile’s proposal.
It was Senator Pia Cayetano, head of the Senate committees on health, and women , who called for a nominal vote when Enrile proposed to remove the phrase from the definition of RH.
The bill defines RH as the “state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity inn all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and process.”
“This implies that people are able to have a safe and satisfying sex life, that they have the capability to reproduce if, when and how often to do so,” it said.
Enrile, who is introducing amendments to the RH bill, wanted to remove the subsequent sentence in the RH definition.