The Revised Penal Code provision penalizing women who induce abortion and those who assist them has never lowered the number of women inducing abortion. It has only made it dangerous for women who are forced to seek clandestine and unsafe abortions.

At least three women die each day from complications from unsafe abortion. No woman should die or suffer disability from complications from unsafe abortion. Deaths of women from complications from unsafe abortion are preventable deaths when women are able to access safe abortion services and post-abortion care.

It is not only women suffering complications from unsafe abortions who have been denied life-saving emergency medical care but also women suffering complications from naturally occurring medical conditions such as spontaneous abortion (commonly known as miscarriages), incomplete abortion, and intra-uterine fetal demise. This judgmental culture, stigma, and discrimination against women is drawn from the prevailing restrictive abortion law and the imposition of religious morality on women.

To address the need to decriminalize abortion, Atty. Clara Rita Padilla, the Executive Director of EnGendeRights, drafted a proposed Bill to Decriminalize Abortion on behalf of the Philippine Safe Abortion Advocacy Network (PINSAN). This bill when passed into law will save the lives of many women. With abortion decriminalized, women’s access to safe abortion and post-abortion care will not be impeded, thus, averting maternal deaths and disability from unsafe abortion complications.

These resource materials discuss the public health and human rights issues related to the antiquated and restrictive abortion law in the Philippines. The resources also highlight the Philippine state obligations under international law to decriminalize abortion and provide access to safe and legal abortion as recommended by various United Nations treaty monitoring bodies.