Summary of major provisions The bill mandates the government to promote, without bias, all effective natural and

modernmethods of family planning that are medically safe and legal.A l t h o u g h a b o r t i o n i s r e c o g n i z e d a s i l l e g a l a n d p u n i s h a b l e b y l a w , t h e b i l l s t a t e s t h a t t h e government shall ensure that all women needing care for post-abortion complications shall be treated and counseled in a humane, non-judgmental and compassionate manner.The bill calls for a multidimensional approach integrates a component of family planning andresponsible parenthood into all government anti-poverty programs.Under the bill, age-appropriate reproductive health and sexuality education is required fromgrade five to fourth year high school using life-skills and other approaches.The bill also mandates the Department of Labor and Employment to guarantee the reproductivehealth rights of its female employees. Companies with less than 200 workers are required toenter into partnership with health care providers in their area for the delivery of reproductive health services.

Employers are obliged to monitor pregnant working employees among their workforce andensure they are provided paid half-day prenatal medical leaves for each month of the pregnancy period that they are employed.The national government and local governments will ensure the availability of reproductivehealth care services, including family planning and prenatal care.Any person or public official who prohibits or restricts the delivery of legal and medically safereproductive health care services will be meted penalty by imprisonment or a fine.

Economic and demographic premises The Philippines is densely populated, with a density over 300 per squared kilometer, and the population growth rate is 2.04 (2007 Census), 1.957% (2010 est. by CIA World Fact Book), or 1.85% (2005-2010 high variant estimate by the UN Population Division, World PopulationProspects: The 2008 Revision) coming from 3.1 in 1960. The 2010total fertility rate(TFR) is3.23 births per woman, from a TFR of 7 in 1960. In addition, the total fertility rate for the richestquintile of the population is 2.0, which is about one third the TFR of the poorest quintile (5.9children per woman). The TFR for women with college education is 2.3, about half that of women with only an elementary education (4.5 children per woman).

Congressman Lagman states that the bill "recognizes the verifiable link between a huge population and poverty. Unbridled population growth stunts socioeconomic development andaggravates poverty." TheUniversity of the Philippines' School of Economics presented two papers in support of the bill: Population and Poverty: the Real Score (2004), and Population, Poverty, Politics and theReproductive Health Bill (2008). According to these economists, which includeSolita Monsod,Gerardo Sicat, Cayetano Paderanga, Ernesto M. Pernia, and Stella Alabastro-Quimbo, "rapid population growth and high fertility rates, especially among the poor, do exacerbate poverty andmake it harder for the government to address it," while at the same time clarifying that it would be "extreme" to view "population growth as the principal cause of poverty that would justify thegovernment resorting to draconian and coercive measures to deal with the problem (e.g., denialof basic services and subsidies to families with more than two children)." They illustrate theconnection between rapid population growth and poverty by comparing the economic growthand population growth rates of Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, wherein the first

twogrew more rapidly than the Philippines due to lower population growth rates.They stressed that"the experience from across Asia indicates that a population policy cum government-funded[family planning] program has been a critical complement to sound economic policy and povertyreduction."In Population and Poverty, Aniceto Orbeta, Jr, showed that poverty incidence is higher among big families: 57.3% of Filipino families with seven children are in poverty while only 23.8% of families who have two children live below the poverty threshold.Proponents argue that smaller families and wider birth intervals resulting from the use of contraceptives allow families to invest more in each childs education, health, nutrition and eventually reduce poverty and hunger at the household level.At the national level, fertilityreduction cuts the cost of social services with fewer people attending school or seeking medicalcare and as demand eases for housing, transportation, jobs, water, food and other naturalresources. The Asian Development Bank in 2004 also listed a large population as one of themajor causes of poverty in the country, together with weak macroeconomic management,employment issues, an underperforming agricultural sector and an unfinished land reformagenda, governance issues including corruption. Maternal health and deaths The proponents state that RH will mean: (1) Information and access to natural and modernfamily planning (2) Maternal, infant and child health and nutrition (3) Promotion of breastfeeding (4) Prevention of abortion and management of post-abortion complications (5)Adolescent and youth health (6) Prevention and management of reproductive tract infections,HIV/AIDS and STDs (7) Elimination of violence against women (8) Counseling on sexualityand sexual and reproductive health (9) Treatment of breast and reproductive tract cancers (10)Male involvement and participation in RH; (11) Prevention and treatment of infertility and (12)RH education for the youth. Family planning The majority of Filipinos are in favor of family planning. The Catholic Church teaches thenecessity of responsible parenthood and correct family planning (one child at a time dependingon one's circumstances), while at the same time teaching that large families are a sign of God's blessings. It teaches that modernnatural family planning, a method of fertility awareness, is inaccord with God's design, as couples give themselves to each other as they are. The RH billintends to help couples to have government funded access to artificial contraception methods aswell. Abortion One of the bill's components is "prevention of abortion and management of post-abortioncomplications." It provides that "the government shall ensure that all women needing care for post-abortion complications shall be treated and counseled in a humane, non-judgmental andcompassionate manner." It also states that "abortion remains a crime and is punishable," as theConstitution declares that the State shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of theunborn fromconception Morality and social effects Another central issue is the morality of contraception. Around 81% of Filipinos are Catholics,and theCatholic Churchteaches thatextramarital sexand contraception are moral evils, sincethey desecrate sex which is intrinsically linked to new human beings whose lives are sacred.Contraception, says the church, also makes spouses lie about their total self gift to their spouse, by not surrendering their personal fertility. HIV/AIDS

The RH bill provides for "prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and other, STIs/STDs,"especially since the number of HIV cases among the young nearly tripled from 41 in 2007 to 110 in 2008. Primary among the means is distribution of condoms. The proponents applaudedgovernment efforts last February 2010 when it distributed condoms in some areas of Manila. Sexuality Education To achieve its goals, the bill provides for mandatory reproductive health education and that it betaught in "an age-appropriate manner... by adequately trained teachers starting from Grade 5 upto Fourth Year High School." Opposition to the bill is concerned about early sexualization of theyouth and say that sexuality education promoters themselves state that it has led to more teenage pregnancies and illegitimacy. They stressed that what is needed is chastity education, especiallytaught by their parents, rather than sex education in school. Proponents refer to the latestUNESCOstudy dated December 2009 which concluded that sexuality education did notencourage early initiation into sex, but actually increased the age at which people first engage insexual activity. Sex- refers to whether the respondent is male or female. Age- refers to the age of respondents whether 18 and above, 16-17, and 15 and below. Course- refers to the courses of the respondents whether BS Commerce, BS BusinessAdministration, BS Accounting Technology, BS Business Administration (Marketing), and BSEntrepreneur Management.

Summary of Findings The aim of this study was to determine the perception of College of Business Administration(CBA) students towards Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.Specifically, this study aimed to: 1.Determine the perception of the respondents towardsReproductive Health (RH) Bill when taken as a whole and when grouped according to sex, age,and course; 2. To determine whether there is a significant relationship between respondents sex,age, and course and their perception towards Reproductive Health (RH) Bill. The following were the findings of the study:1. Demographic profile of students are stated in terms of sex, age, and course.a . Sex . Data showed that most of the respondents are females. b . Age . It showed that majority of the respondents were 18 and above.c . Course . It also shows that respondents coming from College of BusinessAdministration are mostly taking up Bachelor of Science in Business Administration2. Significant relationship between perception towards Reproductive Health Bill and variablessuch as sex, age, and course.a . Sex . Sex of respondents did not affect the perception of CBA students towardsReproductive Health Bill.37 b. Age . Age of respondents did not affect the perception of CBA students towardsReproductive Health Bill.c. Course . Course of respondents did not affect the perception of CBA students towardsReproductive Health Bill Conclusion Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were made:1. The respondents are mostly female, 18 and above, and taking up Bachelor of Science inBusiness Administration and these three variables serves as the basis that Reproductive HealthBill are agreed upon by the College of Business Administration students.2. The sex, age and course of College of Business Administration students does not affect the perception towards Reproductive Health Bill.

Richelle Lumawag, Cristy Daconte,Kendy Marie Onasco,Sheila May Bejo, Jenny Rose Ado, Vicente Flotildes, Moises Lono (October 2011) (PDF)Perception of College of Business Administration (CBA)Students at CapSU Main Campus Towards Reproductive Health (RH) Bill. http://www.scribd.com/doc/80223603/Thesis-in-Research