RH Bill Approved in Congress and Senate

The  Responsible Parenthood Bill  or RH Bill was approved in Congress and Senate on December 17, 2012- Monday.

For several months, the Aquino administration has actively campaigned for the approval of the Reproductive Health Bill, with the ultimate aim of ensuring equal opportunity for responsible parenthood among all Filipino families. The momentous passage of the RH bill in both Houses ensures that the Administration is now closer to addressing high maternal and child mortality rates in the country by giving Filipinos the necessary means to plan their families better.

Here's Statement: The Secretary of Budget and Management on the passage of the Responsible Parenthood Bill.

Statement: The Secretary of Budget and Management on the passage of the Responsible Parenthood Bill, December 17, 2012.

Statement of Secretary Florencio B. Abad:
On the passage of the Responsible Parenthood Bill on third reading in both Houses of Congress
[Released on December 17, 2012]
For several months, the Aquino administration has actively campaigned for the approval of the Reproductive Health Bill, with the ultimate aim of ensuring equal opportunity for responsible parenthood among all Filipino families. The momentous passage of the RH bill in both Houses ensures that the Administration is now closer to addressing high maternal and child mortality rates in the country by giving Filipinos the necessary means to plan their families better.
Too often, unwanted pregnancies result in abortions, which present real and immense risks for mothers, and which usually end in the tragic loss of an infant’s life. Meanwhile, babies from impoverished families are born into fewer opportunities for adequate education and health care, undermining their growth as productive members of Philippine society.
The RH bill also ensures that the state will have wider expenditure space for critical budgetary items, including education, health care, and economic services. At the moment, the Administration spends billions to subsidize the basic needs of severely impoverished families, majority of which are burdened by more children than their parents can afford to raise. Through the RH bill, we aim to properly educate married couples so they have a larger understanding of the choices available to them, allowing them to raise families they can properly manage and attend to.
We thank our honorable legislators in the Senate and the House of Representatives for their decisive and swift action in approving this bill. We likewise thank and congratulate President Benigno S. Aquino III for paving the way for such historic reforms as this, and trust that the RH bill will be successfully ratified before the 15th Congress adjourns sine die.