Bongbong Marcos Favors Abortion for Rape, Incest Pregnancies

Presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos on Tuesday said he supports abortion for pregnancies due to rape and incest, adding that women must be given a choice when it comes to their own bodies.

In an interview with Boy Abunda, the only son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos said women who get pregnant out of non-consensual sex or incest should be given the option to decide whether or not to terminate it.

He said if the mother is not capable "or has mental deficiencies or is just not capable emotionally or physically to take care of a child, to have a child, maybe those are the cases where we can say that abortion might be justified."

"All the women in my life, when we talk about abortion, they said it's my body, I should decide. And I subscribe to that notion," he added.

While his position goes against that of the Catholic Church and pro-life groups, Marcos said his job as a public servant is to save the lives, including that of women.

"We want to save the lives of people. We want to save the lives of women.... As a public administrator and a public servant, what you are looking to is to avoid all these tragedies," he said.

In 2012, Marcos, then a senator, also voted for the approval of the Reproductive Health Bill, saying that the government must help young men and women "when they find themselves in a situation where they're ill-prepared and often ignorant of."

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