Groups court RH bill support on Valentine’s Day

From picket in the Senate to giving out condoms in a public market, supporters of reproductive health (RH) bill used Valentine’s Day to intensify their call for the passage of the controversial measure.

In Pasay City, around 50 women members of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) carried red pillow hearts to push for the bill’s passage in the Senate, which was recently excluded in the list of Aquino administration’s priority legislations.

To their dismay, PM and other groups voiced disgust over President Benigno Aquino III’s decision to put the RH bill at the backseat despite his apparent support for the measure early on.

“Eleven poor working women are dying every day from pregnancy and birth delivery complications alone. Don’t we want an end to this continued ‘daily slaughter’ of women? With the passage of the RH bill, we can avoid losing 4,015 precious women’s lives per year,” PM secretary-general Judy Ann Miranda said.

Over at Nepa-Q Mart in Quezon City, members of the Akbayan Party gave away free condoms to the public to continue the initiative made last year by then health Secretary Esperanza Cabral.

“Love yourself. Love your partner. Love your family. Be safe. This is the message we want to convey to the public. The campaign to push for the passage of the RH bill is not only about securing and protecting our rights, it is also fundamentally about love,” Akbayan Representative Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao said.

By Virgil Lopez