GENDER OMBUD REPORT 2016 complicated pregnancies are especially at risk in this situation. Several accounts of lying-in clinics and RHUs needing to refer patients to government hospitals, but were faced with challenges with regard to transportation, coordination, and the access to emergency facilities were documented. Complaints have been gathered as well on the attitude and the lack of professionalism of some government health service providers which discourage midwives and other community-based health workers from referring patients to them. This has an impact on the trust and confidence of patients that government hospitals can respond to their needs for health care. Unethical Practices of Health Workers In addition to the issues related to the attitudes of health workers and health service providers, unethical practices were also surfaced in the CHR monitoring. These practices include requiring “donations” for RH goods and services that are supposed to be free; mistreating women seeking post-abortion care; refusing services to women due to her transgender identity, her disability, or HIV status; delaying or refusing medical services to women due to lack of records or lack of capacity to pay. All these served as barriers to women’s access to RH services and information. 4. Lack or inadequate response to the intersectional vulnerabilities of women from marginalized sectors and those in vulnerable situations. Discriminatory Policies Render Marginalized Women More Vulnerable In the five cluster areas, the CHR found that women from marginalized sectors are most vulnerable to the effects of discriminatory policies that hinder full access to RH services. 38 In Sorsogon City, the Mayor’s “Pro-life” EO and the resulting pull out of artificial contraceptives affected women living in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, those who are in the informal sector, and those who financially dependent on their husbands and without means to purchase contraceptives. The said EO required women to pay for contraceptives they could have received for free. Alternative measures implemented by the DOH through the NDP helped in providing unmet needs of women in Sorsogon City, but this is not sustainable. At the national level, the TRO on Implanon also has the same effect, it deprives women free access to the commodity. In NCR for example, women who are informal settlers prefer Implanon because it can prevent unplanned pregnancy for up to three years. Although the TRO covers only government facilities, many urban poor women cannot afford to pay for Implanon shots available in the private clinics and hospitals. This situation is further exacerbated when the Supreme Court expanded the coverage of the TRO to all contraceptives. Poor and marginalized women suffer from policies on the absolute prohibition of abortion and emergency contraception, and local ordinances criminalizing and penalizing traditional and indigenous home births. The latter especially disadvanatges Moro and IP women living in remote areas who had long been reliant on traditional and indigenous birth attendants. The ban on home births force women to seek assistance from public health facilities located far from their communities. The National Inquiry documented cases of maternal deaths which occurred during transit to these health faclities. Similarly, a study conducted by Likhaan among urban poor mothers in Malabon, identified lack of access, significant delays in seeking health care, and harmful practices of unskilled traditional birth attendants are factors