Enrile loses bid to pull out ‘safe and satisfying sex’ words from RH bill

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.