Position Paper

‘Listen to the Cry’: A Position Paper on the Legalization of Abortion in the Philippines
Stephanie Grace M. Naval (SY 2022-23)

Should everyone be given a chance to live?

As of 2022, there are 24 countries in the world where abortion is completely prohibited. With only
three included in Asia, the Philippines is one of them (World Population Review, 2022). For over a century,
abortion has been criminalized in the Philippines, which was made illegal under Spanish colonial rule through
the Penal Code of 1870, with criminal provisions incorporated into the revised Penal Code passed in 1930
under the U.S. occupation of the country. Amidst the growing appeal and multiple efforts made by many
organizations and movements to decriminalize abortion in the Philippines, the government still has not
considered permitting it – or easing the abortion restrictions – similar to other countries, such as when the
woman's health is at risk, she is mentally or cognitively disabled and financially unable to support the child,
as well as in cases of rape and incest. Until today, some have been opposing the decision, but the government
only aims to preserve its stand on morality.

Moreover, decriminalizing abortion is not the answer to ending unsafe pregnancies caused by covertly
performing an abortion. Many investigative research on the status of reproductive rights disagreed, stating
that the criminalization of abortion has not prevented it from happening in the country. Instead, it caused
potentially deadly and unsafe pregnancies for women who tried to perform abortions (Center for Reproductive
Rights, 2010). However, in countries where abortion is legal in various situations, such as Finland, the risk of
death from legally induced abortion is reported to be almost four times greater than the risk of death from
childbirth (Marmion & Skop, 2020). With that, for any or all circumstances, abortion deprives the right to life
of the unborn and could become as dangerous as causing death to the pregnant woman; thus, it should remain
illegal in the Philippines.

First, the unborn (human zygote, embryo, or fetus) in the mother's womb is a human being, a living
organism at the earliest developmental stages. Hence, performing an abortion is identical to committing
murder as it takes a human life. Furthermore, biologist Jerry Coyne profoundly asserted that a "person" is not
created at fertilization; what we only have in the process is a zygote that will now go on to continue
development. He added that a zygote is an undifferentiated ball of cells without mentation or the ability to
feel pain; there is no evidence it has a soul or anything differentiating it from the embryos of any number of
vertebrate species (Egnor, 2022). Conversely, the textbook "The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented
Embryology" clearly explains that human development begins at fertilization - when a sperm fuses with an
oocyte to form a single cell, a zygote. It is established by the science of embryology that an unborn contains
the four important features of a human: has a DNA, grows by reproducing cells, has a human genetic
signature, and has parts that work together for the good of the whole (MCCL, 2022). With this in mind,
Coyne's assertion is nonsensical as it confuses scientific misunderstanding with moral reasoning and proves
that abortion is similar to murder.

Second, a Nebraska Family Alliance (NFA) (2014) study confirms that women could experience many
physical and psychological effects from having an abortion. The risk of performing an abortion has been a
huge issue since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The Supreme Court wrote, "… abortion in early pregnancy,
that is, prior to the end of the first trimester, although not without its risk is now relatively safe, and
mortality rates for women undergoing early abortions, where the procedure is legal, appear to be as low as
or lower than the rates for normal childbirth." (p. 149). While this claim has been repeated incessantly by
many, a substantial amount of evidence has already been documented years after the Court's decision which
contradicts the assertion of abortion as "relatively safe." About 20% of women in Finland who had undergone
induced abortions suffered complications after the procedure, including infection, excessive bleeding, cervical
injury, and shock (Niinimaki et al., 2009). In addition, a 2009 study by the American Association for Cancer
Research revealed that women who have had abortions face a 40% greater risk of contracting breast cancer,
while in the United States, legal abortion is identified to be one of the leading causes of maternal death (Dolle
et al., 2009; NFA, 2014). Thus, in whatever way abortion is performed – secretly or not – it could cause an
even greater risk to the lives of pregnant women.

Third and last, in cases of unintended pregnancy like rape and incest, the decision to perform an
abortion is immoral as it will only compound the violence of rape by taking the life of a vulnerable human
being who has done nothing wrong. The lives of women who had been victims of rape and experienced raising
a child conceived in rape may be the hard cases in this issue of abortion. Still, on the other hand, among
all people, they are the most relevant cases that should be studied and asked about their perspective on
abortion. Kathleen DeZeeuw, a rape survivor and mother, stated, "I, having lived through rape, and having
raised a child conceived in rape, feel personally assaulted and insulted every time I hear that abortion should
be legal because of rape and incest. We've not been asked to tell our side of the story." Also, an incest victim
and victim of forced abortion named "Denise" testified that abortion only intensified her pain. In such times,
as a mother, she said that she needed love, support, and understanding, not the pain of being violated again to
kill her child (The UnChoice, 2006).

So, should everyone be given a chance to live? The same question could have been asked and instilled
in the minds of women who are yet to conceive a child, but an unwanted one like Steve Jobs, the founder of
Apple and one of America's true greats. In an interview for his biography, despite revealing that he was an
unwanted child and almost a victim of abortion, Jobs was still thankful to his biological mother, for she had not
chosen to abort him and Jobs did not end up as an abortion (Desmond, 2011). The same story applies to all
children yet to be born and mothers in an unresolved state of mind. Like Steve Jobs, their children could soon
become people of great contribution to the world or any individual whose potential is inconceivable and whose
life is worth being given a chance to live. Stand against the legalization of abortion in the Philippines; abortion
takes the human life of the unborn, causes many physical and psychological effects, and only compounds the
violence of unintended pregnancy cases. Whose voice should prevail? Listen to the cries of the unborn. Give
everyone a chance to live.

References

Center for Reproductive Rights (2010). Facts on abortion in the Philippines: Criminalization and a general
ban on abortion. [Link]
fac_philippines_1%[Link]
Desmond, J. (2011). Steve Jobs: An ‘unwanted’ child. National Catholic Register.
[Link]
Dolle, J., Daling, J., White, E., Brinton, L., Doody, D., Porter, P. & Malone, K. (2009). Risk factors for triple-
negative breast cancer in women under the age of 45 years. National Library of Medicine, 18(4),
1157-1166. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965
Egnor, M. (2022). If a fetus isn’t a human being, what is it? Evolution News and Science Today.
[Link] what-is-it/
Marmion, P. & Skop, I. (2020). Induced abortion and the increased risk of maternal mortality. Linacre
Quarterly, 87(3), 302-310. [Link]
MCCL (2022). Why Pro-Life? The Case for Inclusion. [Link]
Niinimaki, M., Pouta, A., Bloigu, A., Gissler, M., Hemminki, E., Suhonen, S. & Heikinheimo, O. (2009).
Immediate complications after medical compared with surgical termination of pregnancy. National
Library of Medicine, 114(4), 795-804. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0b013e3181b5ccf9
The UnChoice (2006). The “hard cases” assault-related pregnancy.
[Link]
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U.S. Supreme Court. (1973). Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113.
[Link]
World Population Review (2022). Countries where abortion is illegal 2022.
[Link] abortion-is-illegal