Case Study

(Abortion)
Title: Teenager accused of forcing abortion on girlfriend
Story:
According to Inquirer.net, dated September 4, 2012:
MANILA, PhilippinesAn 18-year-old student from Tondo, Manila, was charged with inducing the abortion
of his girlfriends four-month pregnancy based on a rape complaint filed by the victims father.
Assistant City Prosecutor Jovencio Senados endorsed the intentional abortion case against John Wilson Jose
at the Manila Regional Trial Court on Thursday.
In a statement written from the hospital, the 17-year-old victim said Jose denied responsibility when she first
told him on July 27 that she was pregnant.
I will help you get rid of it, she quoted Jose as saying, adding that Jose gave her pills that she didnt drink,
though she let him believe otherwise.
On August 18, she brought up her pregnancy again and Jose said he would not take responsibility for the
child, especially since it would now be born with abnormalities.
Jose forced her to have sex, the victim said, and then inserted the abortive pill to her genitals without her
knowing. The next day she was brought to the hospital for severe pain in the stomach area and was diagnosed
with incomplete induced abortion.
The victims father, a village watchman, sought the help of the police and arrested Jose on August 21.
Moral Evaluation:
In this cases in the Philippines, it`s too natural to them to abort their child. It is because of poverty or
not ready with having a big responsibility. But on the I of our God, its a bad thing. It is because any child has
a right to live and grow, not to die by aborting them.
That`s why I think that they do need proper education about it. But sometimes educating them about
the abortion or family planning, they did`nt take it serious. Its either they listen on what then hear about it or
they won`t listen.
The other thing that could probably influence them is the social media or the internet or on the t.v. It`s
because, sometimes what they saw on it, on their mind, they want to try it. That is why our government need
to control the internet, social media, etc., to help to decrease the early pregnancy that may result also of
abortion because they`re not ready to accept their big responsibilities.
But for me, they need only a proper attention, proper education, and a proper guidance. And our
society we need a big change to solved it also, but first solve the corruption, then education, then proper
financial and most of all control the internet, social media`s and other advanced technology. It is because
sometimes the advanced technologies may affect our psychological aspects or through mentally. We need
also to choose wise on having a friend. Choose a friend that will teach you to serve and love our God, not on
the bad ways.
Finally, it`s immoral at all. Of you could considered a lot of basis on it. Like in bible.
According to website entitled rappler:

Views, religion, and abortion

The 2004 national survey on abortion showed that nearly 90% of those who induceabortion are Catholic.
Regardless of Church teachings, Filipino women still resort toabortion with the poor, rural and young women
being the most vulnerable to self-induced unsafe abortion.
Although the Reproductive Health (RH) Law provides humane, non-judgmental, compassionate postabortion care and, a law known as RA 8344 provides for stabilizing patients in serious cases such as when a
woman is bleeding due to complications from self-induced unsafe abortion, making abortion safe and legal is
the best means for women who resort to abortion to be assured that their health and lives are not at risk.
Even with RA 8344, the problem, in the past years and until now, is that some medical health care providers
erroneously deny life-saving procedures even in cases of intrauterine fetal death where therapeutic abortion is
needed to save the life of the woman.

In cases of ectopic pregnancy where the pregnancy occurs outside the uterine cavity, surgery is necessary to
save a womans life. Within a few hours from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, the abdomen becomes rigid and
the woman goes into shock. Ectopic pregnancy is a life-threatening, emergency condition requiring
immediate surgery.
Expressing negative views on abortion is dangerous because it maintains the status quo where many medical
providers threaten women with prosecution in cases of intrauterine fetal death,
spontaneous abortion, abortion due to trauma from intimate partner violence and self-induced abortion.
As a consequence of these threats of prosecution, women end up dying because they delay going to hospitals
or do not seek emergency medical care at all.
Judgmental views about known abortifacients such as Cytotec must be eliminated because these are
lifesaving medications necessary for the evacuation of the uterus for incomplete abortion, missed abortion,
intrauterine fetal death, severe eclampsia, labor induction, post-partum hemorrhage, and cervical ripening
prior to obstetrical/gynecological procedures such as therapeutic curettage and insertion of intrauterine
devices.
Abortion and law
The current criminal law on abortion is an outdated colonial law that violates the rights to health and life of
Filipino women.
It was a direct translation of the old Spanish Penal Code of 1870s that used to criminalize abortionin the
time of the Spanish friars and conquistadores. Without knowing the full consequences of such a harsh and
restrictive law, our Congress enacted the criminal provision in our Revised Penal Code of 1930.
At the time the law was adopted, Filipino women did not even have the right to vote, there was no Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and no international human rights treaties such as the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1976), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR, 1976), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW, 1981), Convention Against Torture (CAT, 1987), and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC,
1990). These came much later.
Denying women access to safe and legal abortion is a means to control womens bodies, propagating
subordination of women where womens decisions including personal decisions related to pregnancy and
childbirth are totally disregarded.
Permitting restrictions on womens right to decide their own bodies perpetuate discrimination against women
and inequality of women in law in clear violation of womens right to equal protection of the law and
womens right to privacy.
Allowing penal provisions imposed on women who induce abortion and those who assist them to prevail in
Philippine law based on religious standards violates the constitutional guarantee of non-establishment of
religion.
Denying access to safe and legal abortion is a public health issue.
The illegality of abortion with no clear exceptions drives women to self-induce abortionunnecessarily
endangering their health and lives. If we want health care service providers to provide humane, nonjudgmental, compassionate post-abortion care and if we want to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity due
to unsafe abortion, then we should rethink the archaic colonial law that restricts access to safe and
legal abortion.
We should also welcome discussion on exceptions in cases of rape, incest, danger to the health and life of the
woman, grave fetal infirmity incompatible with life outside the uterus, or allow abortion up to 14 weeks of
pregnancy or, better yet, simply repeal the penal provisions imposing penalty on the women who
induce abortion and the service providers assisting them.
Sources:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/263620/teenager-accused-of-forcing-abortion-on-girlfriend
http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/ispeak/105680-reality-abortion-philippines