OUR RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION: PILIPINA's Position on the Issues of Divorce and Abortion About Us Core Themes Activities Publications Online Materials FES Dialogue on Globalization FES International Policy Analysis Unit FES Journal ­International Politics and Society Lead Writers: Veronica Fenix-Villavicencio(for the policy paper on Divorce) and Rina Jimenez David(for the policy paper on Abortion) December 2000 INTRODUCTION In the Philippines, while the women's movement has gained much ground in bringing gender issues to public discussion and debate, there remain crucial issues on which genuine public consensus, even among women, has yet to be adequately explored or articulated. In place of democratic debate based on data and existing conditions, the Filipino public is bombarded instead with unyielding doctrine and alarmist scenarios. Little room is given for dissenting views or probing questions. In mid-1999, the Roman Catholic Church and conservative elements waged in a spirited campaign against so-called"anti-life and anti-family" legislation. These"sin bills" would have allowed for divorce, abortion under special conditions, the granting of certain rights to gays and lesbians, as well as a bill strengthening the formulation and implementation of a population and development policy. While realistically none of these bills faced the prospect of passage in the near future, given the intense opposition against them, they have already served their purpose of bringing these delicate and indeed intensely personal issues to the attention of the public. While divorce, reproductive rights, abortion, and homosexual rights lie at the very center of the struggle for women's rights and have a significant impact on women's lives, women's groups in the Philippines have been hard put fashioning a reasoned and humane consensus on these issues. There are many reasons for this, among them the need to protect the still-fledgling women's movement from being labeled as anti-life and anti-family and thereby isolating it from the rest of society, the broad range of sentiments even among feminists about such highly personal matters, and the hypocrisy with which public figures and opinion makers approach any controversy. Aware that as a feminist organization devoted to raising public consciousness about women's issues and bringing the women's question to the table of policy debate and decision-making, the National Council of PILIPINA decided to respond to the challenge by launching a series of discussions on these matters both within its organization and eventually among the public. This it plans to do through a consensus-building process within PILIPINA and with other women's organizations and civil society groups. It hoped to present positions and raise questions on divorce, reproductive rights, abortion and homosexual rights that would generate public debate and provide women and men the platform on which to form their own opinions free from dogma, shaming and name­calling. It was also hoped that a consensus position would serve as the basic building block of an advocacy campaign to enlighten the public and work with law- and policy­makers. A freer atmosphere for discussion of these issues should likewise help legislators and policy-makers formulate genuinely responsive laws and policies without fear of political retribution from institutions and interest groups. THE PROCESS UNDERTAKEN