Hontiveros’ appeal: Give revised antiteen pregnancy bill a fair chance
Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, the principal author of the controversial bill aimed at preventing teenage pregnancies, believes her colleagues’ withdrawal of support would have no effect as the measure was already in the advanced stage of legislation.
Still, she appealed to them to give the amended version of Senate Bill No. 1979, otherwise known as the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2023, a “fair chance.”
Hontiveros moved swiftly on Wednesday to introduce a substitute bill which addresses concerns raised by her colleagues and some conservative religious groups.
Among the changes made were the removal of the phrase “guided by international standards” in terms of implementing Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), and the inclusion of a provision guaranteeing academic and religious freedom.
Before this, at least seven senators notified Senate President Francis Escudero that they were withdrawing their signatures from the committee report of SB 1979, which was backed by the Council for the Welfare of Children, health advocates and other state agencies.
“To my understanding, this substitute bill will soon undergo our interpellations in the plenary. This matter is already in plenary and the withdrawal of signatures doesn’t have the effect of reverting it back to the committee level,” Hontiveros said at the Kapihan sa Senado forum on Thursday.
“Any objections by other senators should be expressed in plenary through questions and other proposed amendments…the next development depends on what the body will do in the plenary, taking into consideration the substitute bill filed,” she added.
Normal process
Hontiveros said she expects the Senate, under the leadership of Escudero, to allow a normal legislative process for SBN 1979.
She also expressed hope that President Marcos would study the substitute bill that addresses the concerns he earlier raised.
“If the President read the original version of Senate Bill 1979 and now the substitute bill, he will know the truth about the bill and the lies that were spread about it,” she said.
Mr. Marcos, meanwhile, held off commenting on the purported changes in SB 1979.
“I need to read the substitute bill first,’’ he said after declaring earlier that he was shocked by its provisions, including one that supposedly teaches “4-year-olds how to masturbate.”
