Philippines: "As long as abortion is a crime, women are being driven to their deaths"

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In the Tondo neighborhood of Manila, the number of children becoming mothers is very high

Photo: Kimberly dela Cruz / DER SPIEGEL

SPIEGEL

: Ms. Melgar, in the Philippines, many girls become mothers at a young age.

Why?

Junice Melgar:

Abortion is illegal in the Philippines, even if the pregnant woman's life is in danger.

Contraceptives like the pill have only been legal for a few years.

And that decision has been steadily attacked by ultraconservatives ever since.

The Catholic Church exerts massive influence on legislation, calling contraceptives a "fashion" and so on.

In addition, young women under the age of 18 are only allowed to take the pill with the written consent of their parents.

That completely misses reality.

Even the government wants to change that, wants minors to have access to contraceptives.

But it is incredibly difficult to assert oneself against the front of the powerful opponents of abortion.

SPIEGEL

: That means a 16-year-old girl is not allowed to use contraception.

Melgar:

Exactly.

SPIEGEL

: You can buy condoms in supermarkets in Manila.

Do the young couples use this?

Melgar:

If you have the money and the confidence to put it on the checkout line.

But there was also a time when condoms were forbidden or you could only buy them with parental consent.

In Mindanao there have been incidents where marriage certificates had to be shown when purchasing condoms.

SPIEGEL

: What are these restrictive laws leading to?

Melgar:

Sex is stigmatized.

Sex is taboo.

You don't talk about it, you don't explain it, it's something that shouldn't happen before marriage.

If a girl goes to a clinic and asks about the pill, she's likely to hear: Why are you so irresponsible?

why are you having sex

Everything is restrictive, everything is shameful, in politics, in society.

That also means: There are no contact points or information for sexually active young people.

Politicians pay no attention to it.

We would have to educate the young people, the parents, the politicians, the doctors: we have to make sure that the young girls don't get pregnant in the first place.

SPIEGEL

: With your organization you advise young people on health, sex and contraception.

Under what circumstances do the women and girls come to your clinic?

Melgar:

We mainly work in the slums of Manila.

The women and girls there are very poor, many of them do not go to school, the families cannot afford it.

We experience there that enlightenment brings something.

For example, we have been active in the Tondo slum in Manila since 2009.

When we started, 187 out of 1000 pregnancies there were teenage pregnancies.

We were able to push the number down to 143.

Many girls now come to us for advice – and even the parents are now actively sending their daughters to us.

However, it still happens that pregnant teenagers die at home because they cannot afford to call a doctor when complications arise.

Or because they perform an unsafe abortion.

SPIEGEL

: What does unsafe abortion mean?

Melgar:

Women used to introduce sharp objects to terminate pregnancy.

I remember a woman who used the object to injure not only her uterus but other organs.

She died.

Recently, more and more young women have been taking pills or having a very painful massage, which can also lead to an abortion.

With all of these actions, women run the risk of bleeding to death or contracting an infection that damages their kidneys, forcing them on dialysis.

SPIEGEL

: What options does a pregnant 13-year-old have if she doesn't want to become a mother?

Melgar:

There's a lot of stigma attached to abortion.

If she's very lucky, she'll find an underground doctor who performs abortions;

if this doctor is caught, she will lose her license and go to jail.

However, it is much more likely that the girl will go through with the pregnancy.

SPIEGEL

: What role do families play?

Melgar:

Well, almost everyone is Catholic.

They will say to the girl: own up to your mistake, carry the child to term.

Then the girl can either become a mother, or run away and be alone.

It's a very grim situation.

There's no real option for them.

That's why it's so important that there are shelters for the girls in the communities.

Where they can ask questions, speak up, where they won't be judged and where they can think: What do I want?

How can it go on?

SPIEGEL

: You point out the danger that childbirth poses to underage girls.

Melgar:

Childbirth is one of the leading causes of death in this age group.

Imagine a 13-year-old girl, not yet fully grown, who is struggling with the changes in her body during puberty.

Suddenly this life-changing event of pregnancy comes along.

In an environment that she cannot or does not want to support, where she is on her own with little access to information and medical care.

Most in the poor neighborhoods give birth at home or with the help of traditional midwives, who don't have the equipment for complicated births when a girl is losing too much blood.

SPIEGEL

: What has to change?

Melgar

: Things are slowly changing in the communities.

Even women used to scold other women: "How can you have an abortion?" This is no longer the case.

Many women understand that young girls in particular drop out of school as a result of pregnancy, are driven deeper into poverty and into another pregnancy, that they are more likely to be at the mercy of violence in partnership or abuse in the family.

On the political level, however, there is little understanding of what happens when abortion is illegal.

As long as abortion is a crime, women will be driven into unsafe abortions and death.

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