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PHILIPPINES / REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
STORY: PHILIPPINES / REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
TRT: 3.29
SOURCE: UNFPA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FILIPINO / NATS
DATELINE: 6 - 11 JULY 2009 / MANILA, BOHOL, PHILIPPINES
6 - 11 JULY 2009, BOHOL, PHILIPPINES
1. Med shot, midwife examining Maribel
2. Med shot, Maribel walking by with baby and little girl
3. Pan right, inside Mirabel home with kid doing dishes
4. Zoom out, from young boy to Mirabel and kids
5. Med shot, women with kids
6. Med shot, woman buying pills at store
7. Med shot, Carmen Health Center entrance
8. Med shot, women and kid inside Health Center
9. Med shot, kiosk
6 - 11 JULY 2009, MANILA, PHILIPPINES
10. Med shot, Elizabeth Angsioco at fair
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Angsioco, Secretary-General, Reproductive Health Advocacy Network:
“If you’re rich you don’t need the services, you can buy all the services you need. But if you’re poor you’ve got to have state assistance.”
12. Zoom in, to family planning poster
13. Med shot, reproductive health counseling
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Junice Melgar, Executive Director, Likhaan Center for Women’ Health:
“Natural family planning is not a choice of many Filipinos. When you look at the surveys, you only have less than one percent of the population actually desiring natural family planning. So that’s a problem. The second problem is that natural family planning is not as effective as other family planning methods.”
15. Med shot, mother with baby
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Junice Melgar, Executive Director, Likhaan Center for Women’ Health:
“Three of every ten women using natural family planning methods will become pregnant.”
6 - 11 JULY 2009, BOHOL, PHILIPPINES
17. SOUNDBITE (Filipino) Judora Espina, mother:
“We used the rhythm method, but it is difficult when my husband gets drunk. That why we have many children.”
18. Med shot, Rosalina and Crisanto with their kids
19. SOUNDBITE (Filipino) Rosalena, mother:
“Life is so hard for us. There are times when we run out of rice and I don’t eat. I give my share to my children and to my husband who is working.”
20. Med shot, women with kids in rural area
21. Med shot, kids with babies
22. Med shot, mother with babies in house
6 - 11 JULY 2009, MANILA, PHILIPPINES
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Junice Melgar, Executive Director, Likhaan Center for Women’ Health:
“If you prevent women from getting pregnant, they will not be exposed to the complications of pregnancy that kill them.”
24. Med shot, birth of a baby
25. Pan right, mother with newborn
26. Wide shot, House Representative Edcel Lagman at fair
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Edcel Lagman, House Representative:
“If we have this law, then family planning would enable women and couples to really space their children; it would reduce the number of risky and unwanted pregnancies, which result in maternal mortality and infant mortality and even abortion. That would be very important for the country to realize the millennium development goals.”
28. Med shot, advocate at fair
29. SOUNDBITE (English) Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, House Representative:
“Eleven Filipino women die every day simply because of the sin of omission of the Philippine state. We must be one of the few countries left in the world that are not providing reproductive health policy and programs for our citizens, for our own constituents.”
30. Med shot, Elizabeth Angsioco at fair
31. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Angsioco, Secretary-General, Reproductive Health Advocacy Network:
“If the reproductive health bill does not pass there will be another lobby in the next congress.”
32. Pan right, reproductive health stand at fair
Maribel Ido has just learned she is pregnant again. She is one of nearly two million Filipinas who will get pregnant this year without intending to. Maribel already has five children, and times are hard.
The Philippines Congress is considering a controversial bill that would make it easier for poor women to avoid unintended pregnancies.
Where Maribel lives, public clinics offer contraceptives, but in many other towns they do not. The proposed law would require the national government to distribute contraceptives to local health providers. Supporters like Elizabeth Angsioco say it is a question of fairness.
SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Angsioco, Secretary-General, Reproductive Health Advocacy Network:
“If you’re rich you don’t need the services, you can buy all the services you need. But if you’re poor you’ve got to have state assistance.”
The government currently is not spending the funds Congress allocates for family planning. It promotes only so-called ‘natural’ methods approved by the church. Dr. Junice Melgar, a proponent of the bill, wants to expand women’s options.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Junice Melgar, Executive Director, Likhaan Center for Women’ Health:
“Natural family planning is not a choice of many Filipinos. When you look at the surveys, you only have less than one percent of the population actually desiring natural family planning. So that’s a problem. The second problem is that natural family planning is not as effective as other family planning methods.”
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Junice Melgar, Executive Director, Likhaan Center for Women’ Health:
“Three of every ten women using natural family planning methods will become pregnant.”
SOUNDBITE (Filipino) Judora Espina, mother:
“We used the rhythm method, but it is difficult when my husband gets drunk. That why we have many children.”
Surveys indicate that poor women have, on average, two children more than they would like. This makes it harder to make ends meet.
SOUNDBITE (Filipino) Rosalena, mother:
“Life is so hard for us. There are times when we run out of rice and I don’ eat. I give my share to my children and to my husband who is working.”
Access to contraceptives could help families escape poverty. It could also save more than 1,000 women’s lives a year.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Junice Melgar, Executive Director, Likhaan Center for Women’ Health:
“If you prevent women from getting pregnant, they will not be exposed to the complications of pregnancy that kill them.”
A majority of poor Filipinas give birth at home, without medical assistance, and maternal mortality is high as a consequence. The bill before Congress would also ensure government support for skilled birth attendants and emergency obstetric care.
Representative Edcel Lagman is the author of the bill in the House of Representatives.
SOUNDBITE (English) Edcel Lagman, House Representative:
“If we have this law, then family planning would enable women and couples to really space their children; it would reduce the number of risky and unwanted pregnancies, which result in maternal mortality and infant mortality and even abortion. That would be very important for the country to realize the millennium development goals.”
Lawmakers have been trying for 18 years to pass a bill promoting family planning. Representative Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel is a cosponsor.
SOUNDBITE (English) Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, House Representative:
“Eleven Filipino women die every day simply because of the sin of omission of the Philippine state. We must be one of the few countries left in the world that are not providing reproductive health policy and programs for our citizens, for our own constituents.”
Supporters are optimistic this bill will become law, but are determined to try again if it doesn’t.
SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Angsioco, Secretary-General, Reproductive Health Advocacy Network:
“If the reproductive health bill does not pass there will be another lobby in the next congress.”
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