Reproductive Health Bills (RH Bill) are bills aiming to guarantee universal access to methods and information on birth

control and maternal care. The bills have become the center of a contentious national debate especially on its key proposal that the Philippine government and the private sector will fund and undertake widespread distribution of family planning devices such as condoms, birth control pills (BCPs) and IUDs, as the government continues to disseminate information on their use through all health care centers. During the present 15th Congress, Senate Bill No. 2378 entitled AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A NATIONAL POLICY ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT was filed in the Senate by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, while the RH Bills filed at House of the Representatives are those authored by: (1) House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman of Albay (House Bill No. 96) entitled: AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A NATIONAL POLICY ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, RESPONSIBLE PARENTHOOD AND POPULATION DEVELOPMENT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES (2) Iloilo Representative Janette Garin (House Bill No. 101) entitled: AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A NATIONAL POLICY ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND POPULATION DEVELOPMENT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES (3) AKBAYAN Representatives Kaka Bag-ao and Walden Bello (House Bill 313) entitled: AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A NATIONAL POLICY ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND POPULATION DEVELOPMENT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSS (4) Muntinlupa Representative Rodolfo Biazon (House Bill No. 1160) entitled: AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A NATIONAL POLICY ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES (5) Iloilo Representative Augusto Syjuco (House Bill 1520) entitled: AN ACT TO PROTECT THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO INFORMATION ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE; and (6) GABRIELA Representative Luzviminda Ilagan (House bill no. 3387) entitled: AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A NATIONAL POLICY ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH FOR WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. On February 21, 2011, the House of Representatives Committee on Population and Family Relations considered the above-mentioned House bills and consolidated it to House Bill No. 4424 entitled: AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE POLICY ON RESPONSIBLE PARENTHOOD, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. House Bill No. 4424 (RH Bill) aims to integrate a responsible parenthood and family planning component into all anti-poverty and other sustainable human development programs of the government and promote people's right to health, especially the poor and marginalized; uphold the basic right of couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number of children they may have and the reproductive spacing they will adopt, and to provide the information, education and access to medically safe, legal, affordable, effective, and quality reproductive health care services, methods, devices,

supplies and relevant information thereon; and, to ensure effective partnership among the national government, local government units (LGUs) and private sector in the design, implementation, coordination, integration, monitoring and evaluation of people-centered programs to enhance quality of life and environmental protection.