Alternatives to imprisonment urged for pregnant women deprived of liberty
Should the Philippines imprison pregnant women?
This was the question posed by public health and women's rights researchers and advocates in a new policy brief tackling the welfare of pregnant women in detention.
The document highlighted that pregnant women face heightened risks in the country's detention system, which suffers from extreme overcrowding and provides limited access to prenatal care.
They noted that the number of women deprived of liberty has increased in recent years. In 2021, over 16,000 women were jailed, making up 9.8% of the whole Philippine prison population. From 2018 to 2021, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology logged 1,600 pregnant detainees and 485 births, according to a 2021 Washington Post report. About 80% of these women face drug-related cases.
"From a public health point of view, parang it's not acceptable," the policy brief's lead author, Romulo Nieva Jr., PhD. told PhilSTAR L!fe. "It's hard to think na bakit mo sila ikukulong, 'di ba? They are very vulnerable."
"In fact, you are not only jailing or imprisoning a woman, but you are also imprisoning a child."
Nieva shared that he previously interviewed expectant mothers who had a miscarriage while they were in prison.
"It's not surprising because we also found na very limited ang prenatal care," he said, adding that policy guidelines regarding such matters at the BJMP and Correctional Institution for Women are "rigid."
"The women had to wait for the schedules, [unlike] kung nasa labas ka, like pupunta ka ng health station to have your prenatal care. Inside the detention facility, it doesn't work that way."
According to the BJMP website, pregnant PDLs are "given special by the jail nurses to ensure compliance with the prenatal and post-natal care, timely provision of other pregnancy-related needs, and assistance for the care of the newborn until the latter is endorsed to the immediate family or accredited child-caring agency."
The Bureau of Corrections manual also states that arrangements will be made for children to be born in a hospital outside the facility. The infant may be allowed to stay with the mother in the mother's ward for a year.
However, a study cited in the policy brief from Bard et al. stated that women deprived of liberty are less likely to receive quality prenatal care. Nieva, for his 2024 study, also interviewed 18 pregnant women and found that available prenatal care doesn't meet their needs. They further said that newborn care, like vaccines, and counseling programs were lacking.
Apart from limited access to prenatal care, pregnant women are also vulnerable to health risks due to overcrowded spaces and poor nutrition. In December 2025, CIW Superintendent Marjorie Ann Sanidad told the Philippine STAR that the congestion rate in the facility was 131.9%.
"To have a healthy pregnancy, you need a good physical environment... Kapag crowded 'yan, madaling magka-infection. Kung isa may tuberculosis doon, pwede magka-TB 'yung buntis, [or] any form of communicable disease," Nieva said.
He added that pregnant women also require a healthy social environment with support from their family or community. Inside the prison, this is "impossible," as the women are detached from their loved ones.
Alternative measures
The policy brief also tackled how the Philippines is a signatory to the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners (the Bangkok Rules), but non-custodial measures for pregnant PDLs, like probation and parole mechanisms, are not automatically applied unless courts choose them.
"Very explicit doon sa United Nations guidelines is dapat preferred arrangement for pregnant women is not to put them in detention. Dapat the government has an alternative to imprisonment," Nieva told L!fe, adding that this can look like hospital or house arrest, or a "halfway home," which entails moving a pregnant woman from detention to a local government unit facility to give them regular access to prenatal care and hospitals.
Apart from institutionalizing non-custodial measures, the policy brief recommends strengthening Republic Act No. 11362 to categorize pregnancy as a factor to tilt the "discretion of the court" toward community service.
Sentencing should also be evidence-based and proportional to the crime.
"We don't have a national law, like legislation, explicitly stating kung ikaw ay may sakit or ikaw ay buntis then your crime ay hindi naman serious crime, dapat instead of imprisonment as our default, you have an alternative to imprisonment," Nieva said. His past study found that some of the women jailed were tagged in drug-related crimes from supporting their partners.
Additionally, he noted that the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 is very punitive and doesn't factor in a person's involvement with drugs. According to the law, individuals found in possession of dangerous drugs face (at the least) 12 years and one day to 21 years imprisonment and a P400,000 fine. Meanwhile, individuals using dangerous drugs will be meted a penalty of a minimum of six months in rehab for the first offense, and six to 12 years imprisonment and a P50,000 to P200,000 fine on the second offense.
Nieva added that alternative non-custodial measures do not equate to a reduced punishment.
"Based sa evidence, most of [the] women were in prison or jail because of minor or petty crimes [like] drug use [...] 'Yung nature of the crime is not proportional to the level of punishment," he continued.
In countries like Brazil, pregnant PDLs are placed under house arrest instead of pre-trial detention. Meanwhile, in Georgia, pregnant women can have their sentence suspended until their child is one year old.
Nieva further stated that the alternative measures address public health concerns. "It's not to reduce the punishment, but we ensure it's evidence-based sentencing and it's a public health measure."
Earlier in January, the BJMP, BuCor, and the Philippine Commission on Women signed Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2025-04 adopting the Bangkok Rules. The guidelines include providing free and adequate essential hygiene kits, as well as comprehensive health services—including menstrual, maternity, breastfeeding, menopause, pre- and post-natal exams.