Reproductive Health and Rights Act

Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2010

• The Act declares the following guiding principles:
  • The right to make free and informed decisions, which shall not be subjected to coercion and must be fully guaranteed by the State.
  • Respect for protection and fulfillment of reproductive health and rights, prioritizing the welfare of every person, especially couples, women, and adolescents.
  • Ensuring maternal and child health, the health of the unborn, safe delivery, and birth of healthy children, and sound replacement rate.
  • Providing ethical, medically safe, accessible, affordable, non-abortifacient, effective, and quality reproductive health care services and supplies.
  • Promoting and providing information and access to all methods of family planning, including natural and modern methods that are medically safe, legal, and effective.

Key Definitions

• Sexually transmitted infection (STI): Any infection that may be acquired or passed on through sexual contact, IV, intravenous drug needles, childbirth, and breastfeeding.
• Skilled birth attendance: Childbirth managed by a skilled health professional, including the enabling conditions of necessary equipment and support of a functioning health system, including transport and referral facilities for emergency obstetric care.
• Skilled health professional: A midwife, doctor, or nurse educated and trained in the skills needed to manage normal and complicated pregnancies, childbirth, and the immediate postnatal period.
• Sustainable human development: Bringing people, particularly the poor and vulnerable, to the center of development, creating an enabling environment that promotes their rights and protects the life opportunities of future generations and the natural ecosystem.

Provisions

• The national government shall ensure the provision of reproductive health care, information, and supplies, with priority given to poor beneficiaries.
• The State shall respect individuals' preferences and choice of family planning methods that are in accordance with their religious convictions and cultural beliefs.
• Active participation by NGOs, women's and people's organizations, civil society, faith-based organizations, and communities is crucial to ensuring reproductive health and population policies address the needs of women, the poor, and the marginalized.

Reproductive Health Care Services

• Each family shall have the right to determine its ideal family size, and the State shall equip each parent with the necessary information on all aspects of family life, including reproductive health and responsible parenthood.
• The resources of the country must be made to serve the entire population, especially the poor, and allocations thereof must be adequate and effective.
• Development is a multi-faceted process that calls for the harmonization and integration of policies, plans, programs, and projects that seek to uplift the quality of life of the people, more particularly the poor, the needy, and the marginalized.

Implementation

• The Department of Health (DOH) shall procure, distribute, and monitor the usage of family planning supplies for the whole country.
• The DOH shall coordinate with local government bodies to plan and implement this procurement and distribution program.
• LGUs may implement their own procurement, distribution, and monitoring program consistent with the overall provisions of this Act and the guidelines of the DOH.
• A multidimensional approach shall be adopted in the implementation of policies and programs to fight poverty, prioritizing full access of poor and marginalized women to reproductive health care, services, products, and programs.