REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL STUDY Date Conducted: November 17-24, 2008

Conducted by: Rachelle Uy, Charlotte Yu, Jeselyn Kaye Chuan

Introduction

The troubles of overpopulation have given rise to the birth of the reproductive health bill,

which deals with a number of issues, including proper family planning and sex education for the

youth. The Population Commission has been mandated to implement this act, as an attached

agency for the Department of Health.

Other than family planning and sex education, there are other aspects of the Reproductive

Health Bill such as the distribution of hormonal contraceptives, increase in barangay health care

workers, and the delivery of health care goods by a Mobile Health Care Service. However, in

this survey, we will only tackle the aforementioned key provisions of the bill found in paragraph

one.

The survey is addressed to the Loyola Schools Community, which consists of college

students in all year levels. Through conducting the survey, we would be able to measure the

awareness of the students as well as their favorability of the educational aspect of the bill and,

subsequently, of its whole.

Results

According to the results of the gathered data, only 26% of the students in the Loyola

Schools of Ateneo de Manila University consider themselves fully aware of the Reproductive

Health Bill and implicitly, its provisions. In line with this, a good 16% of the sample population

admit and deem that they have no idea as to what the said bill is all about, making the findings of

this particular survey less reliable.

Based on our findings, approximately 91% (of which 53% strongly agrees) of the entire

sample population agrees to the idea of educating the youth with family planning; and 82% (of

which 33% strongly agrees) of the respondents agree to the mandatory teaching of sex education.

All in all, 70% of the respondents favored the Reproductive Health Bill as a whole.

Data Analysis

Not many people are aware of the pros and cons of the Reproductive Health Bill. Survey

shows that 58% have heard of it somewhere and 16% have never heard what the RH Bill is all

about. Only 26% of the student body consider themselves fully aware of the subject matter at

hand, making the conducted survey less reliable. (See Figure 1: Awareness of the RH Bill)

The survey provided the respondents with a brief summary of the educational aspect of

the bill to enable them to give comments and raise their personal suggestions. The survey defined

the RH Bill in the context of “Education and promotion of natural and modern family planning

methods” and “Mandatory age-appropriate teaching of sex education to students.” With this, a

huge 91% agreed to the first provision – family planning for the youth; and 82% agreed to the

second – sex education for the youth. (See Figure 2: Family Planning for the Youth and Figure 3:

Sex Education for the Youth)

Since the survey only defined these two provisions, the community might have

misinterpreted it to be the summary of the whole Reproductive Health bill. Moreover, only 26%

were fully aware of the topic. Thus, the 70% agreeing to the Reproductive Health bill might not

be very accurate since 96% of the respondents taken are Christians and some parts of the bill are

against Christian values. (See Figure 4: Favorability of the RH Bill as a Whole)

Comments and Suggestions

Aside from the Likert-scales presented in the survey, people were also asked to comment

and/or suggest on what they think of the bill. A handful suggested that the educational aspect

could be beneficial to the community, except for the part where the availability of contraceptives

is eminent, which to some encourages premarital sex.

On the other hand, some commented that the bill could be able to solve the issue regarding

overpopulation; and that it is necessary for the country's growth and development, especially

with the lower classes during such times of economic slow down.

The country is in turmoil right now, and part of the reason is that we are too

overpopulated to have any effective means of resource allocation. Our GDP growth

rate may be high, but it is an established fact that it is COMPLETELY OFFSET by

the population growth rate.

Taking a closer look, some of the content of the RH Bill are against the Christian

teachings, which drive major problems with its implementation. A lot of people adhere to

this opposition; however, a handful says that it being immoral to Church teachings is not a

sound enough argument and that people need options as well.

There should be a separation of Church and State since failure to do so excludes

most non practicing, modern Christians and obviously excludes those of other

Religions or those who are not of any particular faith. Church Intervention in this

aspect is a reminder of Proposition 8 in America where Mormons heavily

campaigned against gay marriage. This is a problem since the authority of the

Church is already interfering with state affairs which obviously should not be since

religion is trying to separate itself from political affiliation. The Church should not

bully schools such as Ateneo to create a single stance since despite being a Jesuit

school it is still an avenue for different opinions and beliefs to gather. The

opposition of this bill is merely another discriminatory act by the Church who

creates unnecessary paranoia and guilt while also preaching to everybody as a

whole.

Still, if the RH Bill would be passed, proper research by the Department of Education must

be done in order to implement the educational aspect since its success is dependent primarily on

how the youth will be educated. Proper selection of the provisions would be helpful since some

parts of the bill are already in favor of the community. Overall, it has a lot of loopholes and still

needs further improvement.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the study be further pursued to assess the favorability of the

Reproductive Health Bill as a whole since this particular study focused solely on two provisions,

of which both are under the educational aspect, of the said bill. Other provisions should also be

introduced to the community and, again, be studied to see whether people would find it

appropriate and morally correct. Moreover, it is recommended that the study be conducted on

respondents who are fully aware of the bill to obtain more statistically significant and accurate

data.

Survey Background

The survey was originally to be conducted within the college campus of Ateneo de

Manila University, with a sample size of 304 consisting of 80 first years, 74 second years, 72

third years and 78 fourth years. Due to some imperfections, the survey was completed with 81

first years, 77 second years, 84 third years and 71 fourth year students. The survey for most of

the third and fourth year students were conducted in an online survey as a result of a fortuitous

event.

Graphs and Charts

Figure 1: Awareness of the RH Bill

Figure 2: Family Planning for the Youth

Figure 3: Sex Education for the Youth

Figure 4: Favorability of the RH as a Whole