Bill on unborn child won’t go with RH bill

The bill protecting the rights of the unborn child will be treated separately from the reproductive health (RH) bill in the Senate because the two measures do not necessarily go together, Senator Pia Cayetano said yesterday.

Cayetano, who chairs the health committee that tackled the RH bill in the chamber, also rejected the idea that the Protection of the Unborn Child bill was a compromise measure to the controversial RH bill.

“My initial review tells me that, yes, they’re overlapping, but they’re very different. We can argue till the sun sets but at some point you have to draw the line and focus,” she said in an interview.

The health committee wrapped up its hearings on the RH bill late in February. Cayetano has indicated that she was ready to sponsor the committee report before Congress adjourns sine die on June 8.

The Senate version of the RH bill compels the state to guarantee universal access to medically safe, legal, affordable and quality reproductive health services, devices, supplies and relevant information.

The other bill, as its name states, seeks to uphold the rights and promote the welfare of the unborn child.

Monday hearing

The committee on women, youth and family relations, also chaired by Cayetano, is to hold a hearing on Monday on the bills on the protection of the unborn child filed by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, and Senators Ralph Recto and Ramon Revilla Jr.

Cayetano said the discussions would not necessarily be incorporated in the RH bill.

“[The two bills] are two different matters. I won’t change my feelings about it,” she said, rejecting the idea of the Protection of the Unborn Child bill as a compromise measure.

“How can it be a compromise bill? It doesn’t speak of women’s access to health care and health services. It doesn’t define the ailments in connection with reproductive health,” she added.

No money involved

While the debate on the RH bill is now in full swing in the House of Representatives, it has yet to start in the Senate because Cayetano has yet to present the committee report on the bill.

Sotto, who, like Enrile, has declared opposition to the RH bill, said the two bills could be combined. But he said his preference was that they be treated separately.

“[The Protection of the Unborn Child bill] has higher chances of getting approved because there’s no money involved,” Sotto said in an interview, referring to the appropriation for reproductive health and natural and artificial family planning in the RH bill.