UN slams Brazil bill that would ban all abortions

RIO DE JANEIRO - The United Nations on Monday voiced concern over a bill under consideration by Brazil's congress that would ban access to all abortions, even in cases of rape and women whose lives are in danger.

The bill "poses an increased risk to women's health," the UN Population Fund's Brazil office said in a statement.

Women in Brazil currently only have access to abortions when the pregnancy is a result of rape, their health is at risk, or in cases of the fetus having severe medical defects such as anencephaly, when most of the unborn child's brain is missing.

The new bill, which was green-lighted by a congressional committee two weeks ago, is seen as a "Trojan horse" by pro-choice activists.

Its initial goal was to extend maternity leave for mothers of premature babies, but ultra-conservative members of congress linked to evangelical churches inserted a clause stipulating that the right to life should be "inviolate from the moment of conception," which would deny access to abortions even for women who currently qualify.

The revised version of the bill "denies women the opportunity to decide on issues relating to matters that involve serious violations of their most basic rights ... doubly penalizing victims of sexual violence or women in vulnerable positions," the UN statement said.

The organization also denounced it as a "step back" which "distances Brazil from its international engagements" in terms of women's rights, and noted that backstreet abortions are "one of the leading causes of death in mothers in Brazil and around the world."

The bill is currently making its way through congress but faces a series of hurdles before it can become law. It must first be debated once again by the committee before a full vote in the lower house of congress, where it will need to gain the support of three-fifths of law-makers.

Demonstrations against the bill took place last week in a number of major cities in Brazil.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Tens of thousands march for abortion rights in Ireland

DUBLIN - Tens of thousands of people marched in Dublin on Saturday to demand the loosening of some of the strictest abortion laws in the world ahead of a 2018 referendum on the issue.

Abortion remains a divisive issue in once stridently Catholic Ireland, where a complete ban on the procedure was only lifted in 2013 to allow terminations in cases where the mother's life was in danger.


In 2016 over 3,000 Irish women travelled to England for abortions, according to the British Department of Health, but activists say the real number is far higher.

The government has promised to hold a referendum next May or June, but it has yet to decide exactly what question to put to the Irish people.

The human rights arms of the United Nations and Council of Europe have pressed the government to decriminalise abortion and widen the law to allow for the procedure in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape or incest.

But pro-choice activists want a more liberal regime, closer to that of England, which allows terminations to be carried out up to 24 weeks after conception. Opinion polls show a large majority of voters want some change.

"Government ministers have suggested only the most restrictive terms will pass, but I think the people want more than that," said Sarah Murphy, a 26-year-old recruitment professional.

"Ireland is changing. I don't think you would have seen a march like this a few years ago," she said.

Like many at the march she was wearing a black jumper with the word Repeal in white, a reference to a campaign to repeal the eighth amendment of the Irish constitution, which gives the unborn child equal rights to those of the mother.

A panel of citizens called together to advise government on the issue voted overwhelmingly that the eighth amendment should be changed.

An all-party committee in parliament is now considering those recommendations and is due to report to parliament by the end of the year.

Some of the crowd, which marched across the city before assembling outside the office of Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, chanted "Get your rosaries off our ovaries" in reference to the influence the Catholic Church has long had on social policy in Ireland, while others held posters demanding "Repeal now."

The growing pro-choice movement is seen as a sign that the Catholic church, which has dominated Irish life for centuries, is continuing to lose influence.

Ireland was the first country to adopt gay marriage by popular vote in 2015, approving it by 62 percent to 38 percent despite the opposition of the church. (Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Senate, House OK RH bill on final reading

The Senate and the lower House approved the reproductive health (RH) bill on 3rd and final reading Monday.

The lower House version of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Edcel Lagman, was first approved 133-79, with 7 abstentions.

The vote was made quickly, with 199 representatives present.

It passed by a higher margin of 54 votes on 3rd reading, in contrast to the close 113-104 vote on 2nd reading.

Some lawmakers made it to the plenary session to cast their votes despite being ill or having important matters to attend to.

Rep. Miro Quimbo, who voted in favor of the measure, attended the session despite being ill with dengue.

Quimbo, on a wheelchair, was accompanied by a doctor who held up his dextrose bag.

"Para sa bayan, I vote yes," he said when his name was called.

"Can't breathe well. Nursing a cold and headache. I almost screamed inside the plane bcoz of the pressure. But must go to Batasan," Negros Occidental Rep. Mercedes Alvarez said earlier in the day.

Those who voted no include party-list Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo and Rep. Mitos Magsaysay.

"Mr. Speaker, this practicing Roman Catholic will always vote no," Arroyo said.

"I just voted NO!" Magsaysay said on Twitter.

House Speaker Sonny Belmonte Jr. and Rep. Lorenzo "Erin" Tañada III, who was the presiding officer in the 2nd reading, voted in favor of the measure in the final reading.

Senate nod

The Senate, meanwhile, approved it 13-8, on 2nd and 3rd reading.

The bill, sponsored by Senators Pia Cayetano and Miriam Defensor Santiago, immediately went to 3rd reading after the 2nd reading because President Benigno Aquino certified it as urgent.

The bicameral conference committee will get both versions of the bill for consolidation before the President signs it into law.

The Senate vote was made after the upper House tackled amendments proposed by Senator Vicente "Tito" Sotto III.

Those who voted yes were:

Edgardo Angara,
Joker Arroyo,
Pia Cayetano,
Alan Peter Cayetano,

Miriam Defensor Santiago,
Franklin Drilon,
Chiz Escudero,
TG Guingona,

Ping Lacson,
Loren Legarda,
Bongbong Marcos,
Kiko Pangilinan, and
Ralph Recto.

The senators who voted against the measure on 3rd reading were:

Tito Sotto,
Jinggoy Estrada,
Gringo Honasan,
Koko Pimentel,

Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr.,
Antonio Trillanes IV,
Manny Villar, and,
Juan Ponce Enrile.

Senators Sergio Osmeña III and Lito Lapid were absent.

'Freedom of choice!'

The vote drew cheers from Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, whom President Aquino earlier tapped to talk to congressmen regarding the bill.

"History in the making! Freedom of Choice!" Roxas said on Twitter.

Angara said the RH bill "is an affirmation of human rights."

"Provisions of the RH bill respond to challenges of the times," he added.

Angara said that while he acknowledges concerns of the Catholic community, the bill does not legalize abortion.

"We have to consider that not all Filipinos are Catholics. We have Muslims, Protestants, Buddhists, non-believers," he said.

"Today, I vote as a Filipino, a public health advocate, a father," Angara added.

Arroyo, who voted "conditional" yes, said the bill should be subject to further amendments in the bicameral conference  committee.

"This bill promises more than it can deliver, because sex is not the root of poverty, it is not the cause of underdevelopment," he said.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who voted in favor of the bill, said the RH bill is part of the solution to family problems.

"If I had a daughter who is a teenager now, gusto ko bang bigyan sya ng condom? Of course not. But as a parent, I can only do so much," he said.

"Don't you want your daughter to have [someone] to approach on reproductive health concerns?" he asked.

"We will fight not only to protect marriages. This is not an incentive to the married, this is also for the unmarried," Cayetano said.

His sister, Sen. Pia Cayetano, had tears in her eyes while explaining her vote.

"We will fight not only to protect marriages. This is not an incentive to the married, this is also for the unmarried," she said. "I hope you can join me to strengthen it, to craft it. I will do my best to preserve the integrity of Senate version."

Miriam: An idea whose time has come

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, a co-sponsor of the measure, had words for the Catholic Church in explaining her vote.

"I vote yes. The Catholic church has steadfastly rejected RH bill. No force more powerful than an idea whose time has come," she said.

"Copernicus refused to believe that sun revolved around the earth. He was condemned by the Church," she added.

She said the Vatican has made many mistakes in the past "because it is a human institution."

"Today is the time for the RH bill. In antiquity, the Church committed grave mistakes. It is not perfect, it is only human," she said.

"Surveys showed women die because of birth complications because they are too ignorant to control their bodies," Santiago added. "God gave me a conscience, gave me a brain. He asked me to use it for the good of my fellowmen."

Escudero, who also voted in favor of the measure said he is against abortion and is in favor of the RH bill because he wants to ensure the well-being of women and children.

"Pabor ako sa RH bill dahil gusto kong bigyan ng pagkakataon ang mga kabataan na magpasya para sa kanilang mga sarili," he said.

Sotto, the staunchest voice in Senate against the measure, said he will ask for God's forgiveness "for we do not know what we are doing."

"We took an oath, a promise to God. We promised to support the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, not just the parts that suit us," he said.

"Malamang pagsisihan natin ito," he added.

He also claimed the bill will not even be discussed if President Aquino's mother, Cory, were alive today.

Enrile said the RH bill divided families.

"I hope that RH bill will bring the benefit that was sought to be accomplished," he said. "I vote no. But I hope those who propose the RH bill is proven right. Only time will tell." - with reports from ANC, dzMM

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Sotto: God put me here to fight RH Bill

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Tito Sotto is standing firm on his position to fight the reproductive health bill as long as his proposed amendments are not incorporated into the measure.

Sotto believes that God put him in a position to fight the RH bill despite the criticisms he has received including accusations that he has committed plagiarism.

“Basta ako naniniwala sa pananaw ng Panginoong Diyos [na] tama ang ginagawa ko. They can always put me down. Sanay na ako na binabato, minumura, inaapi. Ako’y isang hamak na musikero lang. Hindi ako kasing-dunong nila. Pero ilalaban ko kung ano ang tama,” he said during the Kapihan sa Diamong Hotel forum.

“Naniniwala po ako na hindi ako mapupunta dito kung hindi ginusto ng Panginoong Diyos na ipaglaban ko itong adbokasiya na ito. Kaya ipagpapatuloy ko po ito. Isang hamak na musikero. You may mock me, you may insult me, you can do anything, you can say anything, but that will not change my position against those who are against life, who are pro-abortion, who are pro-immorality for teenagers, who are pro-abortifacients… I will never [back] down. I will never give up.”

Sotto also blasted the bloggers who have accused him of plagiarizing a speech of the late US Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

“Kung ang tingin niyo sa akin ako’y graduate ng Iskul Bukol, o graduate ako ng Harvard, still kilala n’yo. The point is kilala n’yo ang pamilya ko, kilala n’yo saan ako galing, kilala n’yo where I am coming from, kilala n’yo ang mga kapatid ko, mga anak ko. Ito pong mga naninira sa akin, hindi n’yo kilala. Nakatago lahat sa computer. Kaya ho, sino ang paniniwalaan n’yo? Ako’y maliwanag na lumalahad sa inyo at alam ninyo kung ano ang ipinaglalaban ko,” he said.

Sotto said pro-RH groups have not rebutted his points on the bill’s alleged promotion of abortifacients and the foreign funding that pro-RH groups receive.

He said he was instead accused of plagiarism, which he repeatedly denied.

He also lamented that while most of the news reports on his statements are accurate, not all his statements make it to media.

Ethics complaint won't prosper

Meantime, Sotto is confident that the ethics complaints against him will not prosper and will not be voted upon.

He believes members of the committee may decide on the merits on the complaint on the basis of the Senate journal that contains his speeches.

“I am very confident that it will not reach into that. Kasi siguradong doon lang sa pagpi-prisinta at pagsagot mo, they can already decide there, once and for all. Madali ‘yun,” Sotto said, urging complainants to read the Senate’s rules on what can be taken up in the ethics committee.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

UST steers clear of Varsitarian rant

MANILA, Philippines - The University of Sto. Tomas (UST) on Tuesday washed its hands of a scathing attack made by its campus publication, The Varsitarian, on other teachers and students of other universities supporting the reproductive health (RH) bill.


UST, in a press statement, said it did not have any say in the publication's an op-ed article titled “RH bill, Ateneo, and La Salle: Of lemons and cowards.”

"The opinion expressed in the Varsitarian Opinion-Editorial insofar as it supposedly called the pro-RH Bill professors of the Ateneo de Manila University and the De La Salle University as "intellectual pretenders and interlopers" does not bear the University's imprimatur," UST said.

"Arguments for and against the controversial Reproductive Health bill have been expressed in various fora including the social media. Since the bill is a highly charged topic, emotions indeed may reach feverish pitch in the healthy exchanges of ideas," it added.

"The University of Santo Tomas has been steadfastly consistent in its opposition to certain provisions of the bill which are repugnant to the teachings of our Catholic faith," it said.

"The University thus supports the Varsitarian, its official student publication, in its stand against the RH Bill and for that matter any organization united in this regard with the Catholic Church," UST said. "While it is one with the Varsitarian in this light, the University does not impose its will nor exercise prior restraint on the opinions of the school paper's writers nor the manner by which they are expressed."

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Rising number of child laborers traced to absence of RH law

The rise in the number of children at work could be traced to the absence of the Reproductive Health (RH) law in the Philippines, a senior member of the House of Representatives said Friday.

At the same time, a child welfare group urged the Aquino administration to act fast to curb the rising incidence of child labor by addressing the need of poor Filipinos for food, shelter, jobs and social services.

“The escalating incidence of child labor in the Philippines transcends labor laws implementation and police enforcement as it is an indictment of the government’s failure to positively address the population problem by enacting the reproductive health bill,” Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said. Lagman, one of the principal authors of the RH bill in the House, said that both maternal deaths and child labor will be reduced and prevented once the RH bill becomes a law.

“The unremitting pregnancies of Filipino women in the marginalized sectors due to lack of information and access to reproductive health and family planning services and supplies largely contribute to the increase in child labor as numerous children are suffered to work in their tender years to augment family incomes,” he said.

“Child labor also results in the massive school drop-out rate and imperils the country’s achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of universal primary education by 2015,” Lagman added.

As of October 2011, 5.49 million children were considered to be at work, of which 3.028 million were considered as child laborers and 2.462 million were reported to be exposed to hazardous child labor, Lagman said, citing data from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The ILO defines child labor as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity that is harmful to physical and mental development.

Child welfare group Akap Bata said the growing number of child laborers was a manifestation of the Aquino administration’s failure to address the root causes of poverty in the country, and due to its negligence in providing education, shelter and other social services.

After two years in office, the group said President Benigno Aquino III should do more.

"Essentially, the Aquino government itself pushes our children into hazardous conditions in juvenile employment, as it is inutile in the face of layoffs, demolitions, and high prices of basic goods and services," Lean Flores, Akap Bata spokesperson said.

“When families do not have income, they cannot eat or live in decent homes, nor send their children to school. Thus, more and more children work in the streets, factories or farm areas instead of studying, playing, and enjoying their childhood,” she added.

source: interaksyon.com