Maricel was 18 years old, and still breastfeeding her first born child when she found out that she was pregnant with her second child.
With no means to support two children, Maricel felt trapped. She decided to induce an abortion, and a catheter was inserted into her. She bled for two weeks and developed a fever. She died of sepsis on an operating table.
Maricel is but one of the approximately 1,171 Filipinas who undergo medically unsafe abortions each day, of which 274 are hospitalized.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 2 out of 3 Filipinas do not use any birth control method, thus the spate of unwanted or mistimed pregnancies in the country that ultimately result in abortion.
Recently, the WHO revealed that the country is lagging behind in meeting its Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly those on sexual and reproductive health.
A report by CNN states that unwanted pregnancies account for 28% or one in four of all pregnancies in the country.
According to the report, maternal deaths in the Philippines have decreased since 1990 from 152 per 100,000 to 114 in 2015. However, this is still short of the MDG target of 52 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Per hour, seventy Filipinas induce abortion, 11 are hospitalized, and 3 die from abortion-related complications. This according to Engerrights.
“The statistics are alarming. These are common women—poor, Catholic, married or women in consensual relationships,” said Padilla, Executive Director of Engenderights in a previous press conference.
Adolescent pregnancies
Every two and a half minutes, a 15-19 year old girl gives birth in the Philippines, revealed May-I Fabros, Youth Commissioner of the Philippine Commission on Women. Fabros added that adolescents account for a third of abortions in the country.
“One in ten 15-19 year olds are mothers already. Many induce abortions,” Padilla also said.
“Among the females who had their first sexual encounter, 78 percent of them are unprotected,” said Klaus Beck, country representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the Philippines.
Lack of reproductive health services
The lack of reproductive health services is a significant factor in the number of mistimed and unwanted pregnancies resulting in induced abortions.
According to the UNFPA, the poor and those living in remote areas are most vulnerable since there is hardly any access to reproductive health services.
“There is still a large unmet need for family planning among women, particularly the poorest of the poor who are having an average of up to three children more than they would want,” revealed Beck.
Despite the passage of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10354), much is still to be done.
Since the implementation of the law in 2013, thousands of Filipinas have succumbed to pregnancy-related complications; abortion cases have continued to rise, particularly among adolescents; there remains a lack or absence of birthing clinics in remote areas; absence of sexuality education in schools across the country; HIV cases are on the rise; and thousands of Filipinos still have no access to reproductive health services, such as government- subsidized contraception methods.
As such, advocates for reproductive health continue to clamour for the full implementation of the law, especially since the government, just this year, implemented a Php 1B budget cut for reproductive health services.
“The one billion budget cut will have grave implications on RH services needed, especially for adolescents,” MAY-I said.
“All Filipinos need it to manage their fertility, their families, their lives,” May-I added.
HIV cases on the rise
According to the Philippine National Aids Council, the Philippines is one of only seven countries in the world that has failed to curb the spread of HIV. Other countries include Bangladesh, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
In 2008, one new HIV case was reported per day in the Philippines. This rose to 4 cases a day in 2010, 9 cases a day in 2012, 17 cases a day in 2014, and 22 cases a day in 2015.
Modes of transmission include homosexual contact, bisexual contact, heterosexual contact, injections from drug use, mother to child, and blood or blood products.
READ: Signs and symptoms of HIV in children you may be missing
All 17 regions of the country are reporting HIV cases. Seventy-two out of 80 provinces are also reporting HIV cases.
As of July 2015, 206 or 30% of all HIV cases were reported among young people between the ages of 15-24 years old. Ninety-four percent of these were males. Similarly, ninety-four percent or 204 were infected through sexual contact, of which 19 were heterosexual contact; 113 male to male sexual contact; and 72 were from sex between both males and females.
One percent or 2 resulted from sharing needles for illegal drug use.
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