Newly given birth patients share a bed in Fabella Hospital in Manila on October 21, 2018. Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital is considered the busiest maternity hospital with an average of 60 births a day from the poorest patients in Manila and nearby provinces. © Kimberly dela Cruz

Calypso 

Kimberly dela Cruz

 2018 — Manila, Philippines

About this series

Reproductive rights in the Philippines is a controversial topic. A predominantly Catholic country, there’s still a lack of understanding of modern contraceptive methods resulting in many unplanned pregnancies. Fabella Hospital in Manila bears witness to that, delivering around 60 babies a day.

Even with the Reproductive Health Act, access to modern contraception is still limited. Women travel for hours to reach clinics that could provide them pills, condoms, and other birth control devices. Abortion is illegal and women are forced to gamble their lives in backdoor abortion clinics. Some are left bleeding for days and afraid of seeking medical help. 

Newly given birth patients share a bed in Fabella Hospital in Manila on October 21, 2018. Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital is considered the busiest maternity hospital with an average of 60 births a day from the poorest patients in Manila and nearby provinces. © Kimberly dela Cruz
Women line outside a public health clinic in Tondo, Manila. © Kimberly dela Cruz
© Kimberly dela Cruz
Judy May Aguilar, 19, gets an implant from Likhaan clinic in Tondo, Manila on October 22, 2018. Aguilar was 17 years old when she first gave birth to a boy and had another child since then. She traveled for four hours from her home in San Jose Del Monte Bulacan to avail the free service from Likhaan. © Kimberly dela Cruz
© Kimberly dela Cruz
Women wait in line inside a Likhaan clinic in Tondo, Manila on October 23, 2018. Likhaan is a nonprofit nongovernment organization providing free consultation and family planning methods such as implants and IUD to women especially in marginalized communities. © Kimberly dela Cruz
Newly given birth patients line for a checkup inside a ward in Fabella Hospital in Manila on October 21, 2018. Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital is considered the busiest maternity hospital with an average of 60 births a day from the poorest patients in Manila and nearby provinces. © Kimberly dela Cruz
Zia, 19, poses for a portrait inside her home in Manila on October 23, 2018. She had a backdoor abortion when she was 14. It sent her to a hospital after 2 weeks of profuse bleeding. © Kimberly dela Cruz
Newly given birth patients line for a checkup inside a ward in Fabella Hospital in Manila on October 21, 2018. Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital is considered the busiest maternity hospital with an average of 60 births a day from the poorest patients in Manila and nearby provinces. © Kimberly dela Cruz

Photographer: Kimberly dela Cruz
Nationality: Filipino
Based in: Manila, Philippines
Website: www.kimberlydelacruz.com
Instagram: @kimiisstellar

Kimberly dela Cruz is a photographer and journalist based in the Philippines.
While studying Journalism, she started photographing student protests and later joined Philippine Daily Inquirer, a local broadsheet, as a photo correspondent. Dela Cruz left the paper in 2017 to pursue other projects and freelance for different publications.
In 2018, she became a fellow for the International Women’s Media Foundation and was sent to cover migration, LGBTQI and women’s issues in El Salvador.
She has been covering the war on drugs since July 2016 and co-produced “Si Kian”, a children’s book on the murder of Kian Delos Santos that won a National Children’s Book Award. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Guardian, Time, Al Jazeera, Buzzfeed News, The Irish Times, Nikkei Asian Review, Philippine Daily Inquirerand in exhibits across the globe.