MANILA, Philippines — The Food and Drug Administration should immediately re-certify all contraceptives that have been tested safe so these can be made available to the public, a women’s rights group said.
Lawyer Clara Rita Padilla, executive director of EnGenderRights, said the FDA “should not deny access to safe and legally acceptable methods of contraception to the Filipino populace.”
The call was made as the FDA prepares to issue a resolution certifying all or most of the 51 contraceptives it tested as non-abortifacient.
The Supreme Court had said that the two-year-old temporary restraining order it imposed on contraceptives under the Reproductive Health Law would be lifted only after the FDA had completed its re-certification process .
Padilla said among the contraceptives that have been tested safe are combined oral contraceptive pills, progestin only pills, emergency contraceptive pills, DMPA, implants, IUDs and other contraceptives, including those containing levonorgestrel.
“These contraceptives work prior to fertilization or prior to the meeting of the sperm and the egg,” she stressed. “Contraceptives do not disrupt an existing pregnancy. Their mechanism of action is to delay the ovulation, thicken the cervical mucus, prevent the sperm and egg from meeting – their action is contra-fertilization.”
“New evidence has been found showing the contra-fertility mechanism of action of levornorgestrel IUD by thickening the cervical mucus. There are also non-contraceptive benefits of levonorgestrel IUD such as treatment of dysmenorrhoea, endometriosis and heavy monthly bleeding as an alternative to hysterectomy and hormone replacement therapy,” Padilla added.
“The medical definition of pregnancy is the implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterine wall. Contraceptives including those that contain levonorgestrel do not have any effect on an implanted fertilized egg — they cannot de-implant an already implanted egg,” she emphasized.
“The FDA should not deny access to safe and legally acceptable methods of contraception to the Filipino populace. The contra-fertilization effects of these contraceptives have long been internationally accepted findings of the World Health Organization and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics and the International Consortium on Emergency Contraception,” she said.
Padilla stressed it is government’s duty to make all contraceptives approved by the FDA, as well as those included in the World Health Organization Model List of Essential Medicines available
“These contraceptives have been previously approved by the FDA as legal and effective means of preventing pregnancy and have been included in the Philippine National Drug Formulary. Their re-certification must not be delayed any further,” she said.
Rape victims should also be guaranteed access to contraceptive pills, including those containing levonorgestrel.
Not doing so would run counter to the findings of the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and the International Consortium on Emergency Contraception, as well as the policies of over 140 nations worldwide that have endorsed emergency contraceptives as a proven safe and effective method of modern contraception.
“This is why we should review certain provisions of the RH (Reproductive Health) Law such as limiting the procurement of emergency contraceptive pills to local government units. National government hospitals should be allowed to procure emergency contraceptive pills to decrease unintended and unwanted pregnancies,” she said.
“While the Philippines has a current restrictive law on abortion that was adopted from the 1870 Spanish Codigo Penal, obviously part of the vestiges of Spanish colonialism, it is imperative for the Philippines to liberalize its abortion law to save the lives of at least three women dying every day from denial of access to safe and legal abortion and denial of access to post-abortion care,” Padilla added.
