MANILA -The Department of Health (DOH) is sending technical people to local government units which are hesitant to distribute the family planning commodities or ”contraceptives” that are not affected by the Temporary Restraining Order issued by the Supreme Court.
“We’re actually sending them technical people to orient them that there should be no stopping in the provision of family planning and Reproductive Health (RH) services, except for one method,” said DOH Secretary Dr. Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial.
Ubial said the hesitant LGUs should be aware that other methods not subjected to TRO should continuously be provided.
Ubial said that the only family planning commodity that was placed under TRO was the subdermal implant—Implanon Nxt.
She said that other methods such as contraceptive pills, IUDs and condoms should be allowed for distributions by the LGUs as part of invoking the rights of the citizens to have access to family planning commodities provided under Responsible Parenthoods and Reproductive Health (RPRH) Law (Republic Act 10354) passage and declared constitutional in 2014.
She said that they were strengthening the implementation of such methods that are safe and effective.
The DOH Chief maintained that the agency allows couples to decide on their own, without any coercion, without any pressure on the methods they adopt in terms of spacing and limiting the number of their children.
“So it is still “pro-choice”– if they want natural family planning we will ensure that it is provided.If they want contraceptives except for the one which is under TRO we will provide that,” she said.
Meanwhile she said they were planning to lobby before the Supreme Court, along with the Solicitor’s General Office, for the lifting the TRO on the subdermal implants (Implanon Nxt) based on constitutionality of the RH Law so that more women needing them can be provided an access through the DOH.
“Were now working with the Solicitor General Office so that we can lobby with the SC on lifting of the TRO on the basis of the constitutionality of the RH Law…It is constitutional… It has been declared by the SC constitutional and it is already a law,” she said.
She said that as of now, access to it was through the international partners — United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) and other private institutions partners supporting the family planning program of the agency.
Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) included in its package the availment of subdermal implants for its members as their way of providing access to women who want to have choice in spacing and limiting their children.
The subdermal implant is a small flexible tube, the size of a toothpick, placed subdermally in the upper arm.
It releases progesterone hormone similar to the natural progesterone produced by women in their ovaries and inhibits ovulation.
The implant is highly effective up to three years. The women then can decide after that period if she wants to get that removed or not. It is beneficial among young students who got pregnant and want to resume their studies.
Having the choice not to get pregnant in a period of three years allows a student to finish her course and ensures that she will not be pregnant again.
Planning pregnancy is important since parents can also plan their future, including the future of their children. With this, children will not be deprived of their right to get proper nutrition, good health, education and access to different rights of children.
Having enough number of children through spacing can provide the children a better home environment wherein their parents can look after their needs and provide them the proper care and support they should enjoy for holistic growth and development.
Lack of spacing in the number of children limits the budget of the parents and diminishes the quality of care that parents can provide to them.
If couple’s children are well-planned, they can give a better and promising future for their children and provide them the proper guidance that they need. The parents can also give their children the right to grow in an environment that is conducive to them and promote their well-being and fulfill their dream for themselves and to their country as well.
Having well-planned number of children can also provide couples with enough time to attend to their other obligations while not diminishing the quality of time spend to children.
In a typical poor Filipino family, it is sad to see that some children are forced to stop going to school as they got obliged to take care of their small siblings or forced to work because of their “poor parents” who did not planned their coming-out of this world.
Moreover, their nutritional needs are sometimes not met properly as the mothers failed to provide their nutritional needs upon conception.
The food that they have to eat is even divided and shared to other sibling, causing them to get stunted.
As a result, many of these children were not properly guided and were not sent to school to get education and just go to streets and ask for alms or look for other ways to earn a living.
In the streets, they become helpless victims from different social ills of society as some of them unfortunately got hooked to drug addiction or become victims of human trafficking, become pickpocketters, etc.
All of which contribute to repetitive cycles of poverty, which can be prevented to happen by planning the number of children that they have the ability raise properly while spacing the gap of birth of children at the same time.(PNA)
RMA/LSJ