Reproductive Health Law
Reproductive Health Law in the Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — "The solution is to get more people who think like you elected in Congress so right priorities will be set as you see fit. It is not for us to cure problems you see in Congress."
Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno took up the cudgels for the Reproductive Health (RH) law on Day 2 of the oral arguments on Tuesday, July 23.
She cemented the position she raised on Day 1: The Supreme Court is not the proper forum for their appeal to nullify the law that funds government distribution of what critics call "hazardous" contraceptives.
Anti-RH lawyer Luisito Liban argued that the RH law is "arbitrary" and thus violates the equal protection clause in the Constitution.
Why should there be a law to address maternal mortality, Liban argued, when there is no law for "serious illnesses" – like diabetes and heart diseases – which kill so many more Filipinos?
"There could be a problem if Congress would choose to cherry pick in a very obvious way. Serious problems are not taken care of but the not-so-serious problems are," he said.
To this, Sereno replied: "How can you raise arbitrariness if this has been debated for 13 years?"
That's when the Chief Justice suggested the "political solution" for anti-RH advocates is to get more allies elected.
Critics of the RH law maintain that contraceptives are abortifacients, a violation of the constitutional provision on right to life.
Instead of allocating billions of pesos for contraceptives, the government should spend the money on other purposes, like the construction of hospitals, Liban said.
Sereno reminded the lawyer that President Benigno Aquino III already said in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that the government plans to build more hospitals. "He's doing that," she said.
Reaction:
Reproductive Health bill or law? Everyone has a voice! Because everyone cares in what will be the result of this. The Church who is anti-Rh bill and the
MANILA, Philippines — "The solution is to get more people who think like you elected in Congress so right priorities will be set as you see fit. It is not for us to cure problems you see in Congress."
Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno took up the cudgels for the Reproductive Health (RH) law on Day 2 of the oral arguments on Tuesday, July 23.
She cemented the position she raised on Day 1: The Supreme Court is not the proper forum for their appeal to nullify the law that funds government distribution of what critics call "hazardous" contraceptives.
Anti-RH lawyer Luisito Liban argued that the RH law is "arbitrary" and thus violates the equal protection clause in the Constitution.
Why should there be a law to address maternal mortality, Liban argued, when there is no law for "serious illnesses" – like diabetes and heart diseases – which kill so many more Filipinos?
"There could be a problem if Congress would choose to cherry pick in a very obvious way. Serious problems are not taken care of but the not-so-serious problems are," he said.
To this, Sereno replied: "How can you raise arbitrariness if this has been debated for 13 years?"
That's when the Chief Justice suggested the "political solution" for anti-RH advocates is to get more allies elected.
Critics of the RH law maintain that contraceptives are abortifacients, a violation of the constitutional provision on right to life.
Instead of allocating billions of pesos for contraceptives, the government should spend the money on other purposes, like the construction of hospitals, Liban said.
Sereno reminded the lawyer that President Benigno Aquino III already said in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that the government plans to build more hospitals. "He's doing that," she said.
Reaction:
Reproductive Health bill or law? Everyone has a voice! Because everyone cares in what will be the result of this. The Church who is anti-Rh bill and the