For over a century, abortion has been criminalized in the Philippines. The criminal provisions  on abortion do not contain any exceptions allowing abortion in cases of rape, incest or fetal impairment. It is stated in the Articles 256, 258 and 259 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines mandate imprisonment for women who undergo abortion, as well as for any person who assists in the procedure. A woman performing an abortion on herself to conceal her dishonor is subject to the minimum or medium period of this penalty.

In 2008, according Darroch JE et al. (2009), Meeting women’s contraceptive needs in the Philippines, In Brief, New York: Guttmacher Institute,  there were 1.9 million unintended pregnancies in the Philippines, resulting in two main outcomes—unplanned births and illegal abortions where the place is not sanitized and can cause serious infections or even death. 37% of all births are either not wanted at the time of pregnancy or entirely unwanted and 54% of all pregnancies are unintended and this is due to the lack of access to comprehensive sex education and contraceptive supplies. Tens of thousands of Filipino women are hospitalized each year as a result of complications from unsafe abortion. 

The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs lists the Philippines' abortion policy as “legal to save a woman's life.”

Our team wants to legalize abortion in the Philippines. This is a petition wherein we support abortion and we need the country to legalize abortion because we believe that access to safe abortion is a matter of human rights. The committee for the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, or the Treaty for the Rights of Women), has consistently stated that restrictive abortion laws constitute discrimination against women which further fuels stigma and restricting abortion prevents doctors from providing basic care, doing their job properly, providing the best care options for their patients, in line with good medical practice and their professional ethical responsibilities. 

This petition is for the benefit of the women whose rights are suppressed due to the restriction of abortion. These rights are the basic human rights such as the right to life, rights to health and health care, right to information, rights to nondiscrimination and equality, right to be free from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, right to privacy, right to decide the number and spacing of children, right to security of person, right to liberty, right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and right to freedom of conscience and religion. This may also benefit women who are struggling with financial problems, according to the study of Bankole et al. (1998), 30-68% of the women who participated in their study cited poverty as a factor to their decision of abortion. The results of their study also revealed that the patterns in the relationships between women's characteristics and their reasons for obtaining abortions suggest that these reasons are not random, but relate closely to the woman's current situation and aspirations. This petition can help women fight for abortion and fight for their rights as women. With our research and petition, we want to end the stigma of objectifying women and forcing women to do what the society wants.