The Affirmative Stand on Abortion

Introduction

Before the coming of the Spaniards to the Philippines, it is safe to surmise that
Filipinos then has no qualms with preterminating unwanted pregnancies. Such abortion,
is usually performed by local shamans using a variety of herbal concoctions as
abortifacient. The Philippines is rich with herbal plants of varying medicinal functions and
usefulness.

This practice changed when the Spanish colonizers landed on Philippine shores,
together with their attendant friars to Christianized the uncivilized and immoral natives.
The friars introduced a new religion which sets the moral and ethical standards of the
conquered people. One catholic doctrine is of course, declaring abortion as a sin. In 1870,
Spain introduced the Spanish Penal Code in their Philippine colony. Thus, abortion was
treated not only as a sin, but penalized as well as a crime.

When the Americans took over the rule of the Philippines, the existing Spanish
Penal Code was merely translated verbatim into English with a few revisions. Since then,
the antiquated Spanish Penal Code, renamed later as the Revised Penal Code, came
into use in the practice of law. Today, as it was more than 500 years ago, the Philippines
is a country run by the Catholic Church. Anyone who disputes this is either lying or in
denial. Both abortion and contraception are anathema to the church, which is still living
2,000 years in the past. In more civilized countries, it is accepted that abortion is a
decision between a woman and her doctor. Not the boyfriend/husband, not the parents,
not the politicians, and certainly not the church. Even Spain today has legalized abortion.

In dealing with the issue, our team decided to focus the discussion on just three
aspects: science, legal and philosophical. We discarded religion because it is not based
on logic but blind faith. On this basis, we did not delved on the religious aspect as it will
make the discussion trivial and illogical, which will surely land us nowhere.

This reporter was tasked to discuss the science aspect in the shortest and non-
technical way as possible. Thus, the development of the human child was presented in a
PowerPoint presentation starting from conception, that is, the fusion of the egg cell and
the sperm cell, to the zygotes development into an embryo, and finally as a fetus before
childbirth. The slide presentation was attached as Annex A.
The Science Aspect

It is interesting to know that both ovaries of women contain about 500,000 egg
cells each for a total of a million egg cells. However, only about 500 egg cells matures
and is releases so that if one matured egg cell is released to the ovary monthly, a woman
will be fertile and productive for about 42 years of her life. This means that if a girl starts
menstruating at the age of 12, she will menopause by 53 years of age. However, since
the farm animals that we eat today (primarily cows and chickens) were injected with
growth hormones, the children tend to mature physiologically faster because the growth
hormone ends up in the body of the consumers of dairy products. It is not unusual today
for girls to menstruate as early as 9 years old.

On the other hand, the human male specie produces millions of sperm cells in their
testicles and released from the penis. In one ejaculation, millions of these uniflagellar cells
are forcefully ejected in a series of orgasmic spurts. If released within the vagina, the
sperms will swim towards the females egg cell. The vaginas acidic environment will kill
most of the sperm cells, but a few will survive to reach the egg cell which will admit only
one sperm cell.

Humans are diploid organisms, carrying two complete sets of chromosomes: one
set of 23 chromosomes from their father and one set of 23 chromosomes from their
mother. The two sets combined provide a full complement of 46 chromosomes. All cells
in the body are diploid except the egg cell and the sperm cell which are haploid cells.
Haploid cells contain only 23 or half of the full complement of chromosomes of a cell.
When the egg and sperm cells meets and unites, then a zygote with a full complement of
46 chromosomes is formed. This will then undergo cell divisions until the embryo is
formed, which then becomes a fetus, and finally a full child.

From the moment of conception to about 8 weeks later, the unborn is called an
embryo, afterwards, it is called a fetus. The fetus continue to grow and develop week after
week. If the fetus lodges in the fallopian tube and not in the ovary, it is called an ectopic
pregnancy. In this case, the pregnancy must be terminated. Otherwise, over a period of
about nine (9) months, the unborn is ready for delivery. Medical scientists say that the
fetus determines when it will be birthed.

Giving birth is not only a violent and painful affair for the mother. The most difficult
and dangerous type of delivery is a breech birth, that is, giving birth to a child feet first
vice the usual head first delivery. There are also cases of the cervix opening being too
small for the baby to pass through. This condition often leads to caesarian operation,
which is considered a major operation and hence, very expensive. For those who cannot
afford a caesarian operation, the only alternative is a forceps delivery.

In this procedure, the head of the baby is enclosed in a tweezer-like instrument

called a forceps, which is used to forcibly extract the baby from the mothers womb. Often,
the babys head becomes detached from its body when too much force is applied. Another
side-effect is the inadvertent deformation of the babys head leading to a host of brain
damage issues in later life.

Thus, it is crystal clear that carrying a parasite in ones womb for nine months and
expelling the same in a burst of blood, pain, and agony, which sometimes lead to death,
is a clear and present danger to the health, safety and life of women.

The Legal Hurdle

We took the position, albeit awkwardly since we have an all-male team, to defend
the womens right to privacy and enable them to decide on their life rather than men doing
it for them. We banked on the seminal case of Roe vs. Wade wherein women were given
the right to avail of safe abortion(s) in the first two trimestral (6 months) of their pregnancy.
The law is however silent about pregnancies on its final trimester. A digested case of Roe
vs. Wade was attached as Annex B.

The task for us was formidable indeed since the Revised Penal Code has several
provisions penalizing abortion. These are, to wit:

Section Two. Infanticide and abortion.

Art. 255. Infanticide. The penalty provided for parricide in Article 246 and for
murder in Article 248 shall be imposed upon any person who shall kill any child
less than three days of age.

If the crime penalized in this article be committed by the mother of the child for the
purpose of concealing her dishonor, she shall suffer the penalty of prision
correccional in its medium and maximum periods, and if said crime be committed
for the same purpose by the maternal grandparents or either of them, the penalty
shall be prision mayor.

Art. 256. Intentional abortion. Any person who shall intentionally cause an
abortion shall suffer:
 1. The penalty of reclusion temporal, if he shall use any violence upon the person
of the pregnant woman.
2. The penalty of prision mayor if, without using violence, he shall act without the
consent of the woman.
3. The penalty of prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods, if the
woman shall have consented.

Art. 257. Unintentional abortion. The penalty of prision correccional in its

minimum and medium period shall be imposed upon any person who shall cause
an abortion by violence, but unintentionally.

Art. 258. Abortion practiced by the woman herself of by her parents. The
penalty of prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods shall be
imposed upon a woman who shall practice abortion upon herself or shall consent
that any other person should do so.

Any woman who shall commit this offense to conceal her dishonor, shall suffer the
penalty of prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods.

If this crime be committed by the parents of the pregnant woman or either of them,
and they act with the consent of said woman for the purpose of concealing her
dishonor, the offenders shall suffer the penalty of prision correccional in its medium
and maximum periods.

Art. 259. Abortion practiced by a physician or midwife and dispensing of

abortives. The penalties provided in Article 256 shall be imposed in its
maximum period, respectively, upon any physician or midwife who, taking
advantage of their scientific knowledge or skill, shall cause an abortion or assist in
causing the same.

Any pharmacist who, without the proper prescription from a physician, shall
dispense any abortive shall suffer arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 1,000
pesos.

Furthermore, decades before the 1987 Constitution, the New Civil Code of the Philippines
contained provisions protecting the unborn. These provisions are:

Art. 40. Birth determines personality; but the conceived child shall be considered
born for all purposes that are favorable to it, provided it be born later with the
conditions specified in the following article.
 Art. 41. For civil purposes, the fetus is considered born if it is alive at the time it is
completely delivered from the mothers womb. However, if the fetus had an intra-
uterine life of less than seven months, it is not deemed born if it dies within twenty
four hours after its complete delivery from the maternal womb.

All of the aforementioned legal provisions are anchored on the 1987

Constitution of the Philippines, specifically, Sec. 12, Art. II, which pronounces that
the State shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from
conception.

The Debate

This reporter asked himself if prohibiting abortion was really what the framers of
the 1987 Philippine Constitution really intends. Therefore, he went to the Archives of the
Philippine Congress to make a research on the subject. The transcript of the deliberations
of the Constitutional Commission created by Pres. Corazon C. Aquino is composed of
five volumes with each volume having on the average about 1,600 pages. This reporter
found the pertinent information he is looking for on Volume 1 which was attached to this
report as Annex C.

The page 692 excerpt of the deliberation on July 17, 1986 between Commissioner
Lino Brocka and Father Joaquin Bernas who headed the committee that drafted Article II
of the 1987 Philippine Constitution clearly revealed that the latter did not contemplated
using Sect. 12, Art. II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution to prohibit abortion. On the
contrary, Father Bernas just wanted some control on the number of times that a women
can have abortion. This is understandable since some women might opt to avail of
abortion every time she gets pregnant. Needless to say that abortion as a habit becomes
a vice through continuous usage. A vice can lead to a horde of health problems which in
the first place is what is being prevented. Thus, the existing penal provisions are valid,
but they are voidable because statutory construction tells us that they are not in
conformity to the true intention of the framers of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

Then, the opposing team blundered when they made the use of contraceptives as
an alternative to abortion. It seems that they were unaware that the pro-lifes position in
the issue is that life begins at conception, that is, when the sperm cell and egg cell fuses.
Since the negative sides reporter admitted that contraceptives can work and is effective
even after the sexual encounter, then their suggested alternative to abortion is essentially
. . . also abortion through the use of abortifacients.
 As expected, the negative side also touched on religion a little bit, as well as on a
legal case about abortion. All of these can be easily neutralized. For example, death
occurs when a person makes his last breath. If there is a last breath signifying the ending
of life, surely there must be a first breath which signifies the beginning of life! This first
breath occurs during birth. No, the unborn does not breathe in the womb. Yes, the heart
is pumping, but the hearth is the main organ of the circulatory system. On the other hand,
the lungs are the main organs of the respiratory system. While in the womb, the unborn
dare not breathe or it will drown in the amniotic fluid that surrounds it.

There is also the question of the soul. Exactly when do the soul enters the unborn?
Logically, it must be at the moment of conception. But what if the fertilized egg divides to
split into two independent lump of cellswe are talking here of a case of identical twins.
So, the soul also splits? What if it is a triplet? A three-way soul split?

We need to remember that the unborn is only a potentiality to become a person.

Thus, if the mother suffers a miscarriage, the unborn will not get a birth nor a death
certificate. A census is an accounting of all the living persons in a certain geographical
area. In the national census, the unborn are not included as living persons.

The landmark case of Oposan vs. Factoran was presented by the other team to
show the inter-generational responsibility and its implication on the sanctity of life.
However, doing so is very misleading because it compared the vanishing forests due to
deforestation as a result of illegal logging . . . to vanishing infants due to abortion? The
unborn are thus compared to trees which are precious natural resources. However, the
last time I checked, we do not have a problem in the child-making department. In fact, we
are already overpopulated as we have breached the 100 million mark.

Prologue

So in view of the above arguments, we in the affirmative or pro-abortion side

contends that women ought to have the right to privacy and the right to decide on their
body. Let us not punish women and perpetuate our misogynistic attitude towards the
female human species. Like Father Bernas, we do recognize the need to regulate
abortion so that it will not be abused. But overall, we implore everyone to be sensitive to
the sad plight of women. Only by liberating them from the tyranny of men can we truly call
ourselves humane.
o0o