Friday, March 28, 2014

Militant labor group urges Supreme Court to uphold RH Law

PRESS RELEASE
28 March 2014

Women workers from Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) joined women from different sectors - government officials, civil society partners, young people, and celebrity supporters - in the march to urge the Supreme Court Justices to uphold the Reproductive Health Law.

The march will start at Anda Circle at 2pm, pass by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ office in Intramuros, and proceed to the Supreme Court in Padre Faura, and hold a program at Plaza Salamanca, Taft Avenue. Attendees will march in purple shirts and accessories.

“More pregnant women are dying with the delay in the implementation of the RH Law.  Teen pregnancies are increasing and girls getting pregnant are younger and younger with the delay in the implementation of the RH Law.  HIV/AIDS rates are likewise increasing, young men and women are denied of necessary services with the delay in the implementation of the RH Law,” claimed PM Secretary General Judy Ann Miranda.

PM also noted that a Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) study (Labstat Vol. 17, No. 8, May 2013) showed that most of the women inactive in the labor force are 20-39 year-olds, poor, and either elementary or high school levels/graduates.  They are inactive because besides spending most of their time in childrearing and domestic work, they are also those women with the most number of children born in fairly close succession.
Hence, these women are poor because right from the beginning, they have been denied by the government, with the Catholic Church’s influence, their right to reproductive health. 
“Too many lives and futures have been sacrificed.  We urge the Supreme Court to end the silent carnage and uphold the RH Law,” Miranda ended.

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