Cabral asks SC to lift TRO on contraceptives

Former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral has joined fellow pro-choice advocates in asking the Supreme Court to lift the temporary restraining order (TRO) on the purchase and distribution of contraceptives under the government’s Reproductive Health program.

Cabral’s group asked the court to rescind the August 24, 2016 order of its Second Division rejecting the Department of Health’s appeal to lift the TRO which barred it from providing Implanon and Implanon NXT contraceptives to the public.

In its ruling, the high court’s Second Division voided the certifications issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 77 contraceptive drugs and devices, including Implanon and Implanon NXT, due to the failure of the DOH to conduct public hearings on these products’ acquisition and distribution.

This meant that the DOH would have to go through the certification process with the FDA from scratch which would further delay the government’s family planning program.

Cabral’s group said that failure to lift the TRO would lead to a shortage of contraceptives in the market as the court had also made FDA certifications subject to appeal in court.

“It is no secret that the end-goal of those opposing the RP/RH law is to totally remove women’s access to contraceptives. Surely, all FDA decisions favorable to contraceptives will be appealed. This will be a never-ending process and for as long as contraceptives are not registered, they cannot be made available both by public and private sources,” Cabral’s group said.

Cabral’s group warned that without the contraceptives, the RH law would be rendered as mere “lip service” even though the court had ruled that the law was constitutional.

Cabral and former Presidential Assistant for Social Development Ben de Leon and four pro-choice advocacy groups—Filipino Catholic Voices for Reproductive Health; Philippine NGO Council on Population Health and Welfare; Philippine Center for Population and Development; and Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc.—filed a motion for intervention to join respondents, led by former Health Secretary Janet Garin.