Supreme Court’s ruling on rape: a ruling for rapists, not victims – Gabriela

Press Release
April 4, 2023

QUEZON CITY – National women’s alliance GABRIELA slammed the Supreme Court’s recently uploaded ruling “fine-tuning” the criminal act of rape. In the SC decision, an anatomical threshold where the perpetrator’s penis “penetrates the cleft of the labia minora” must be proven beyond reasonable doubt in order for an act to be considered rape.

“The dignity of a woman does not rest on a vagina. By creating ‘gradations’ between ‘rape’ and ‘attempted rape’ on account of anatomical thresholds, the Supreme Court is effectively reducing the dignity of women to our body parts. It forgets that whether a woman is forced into acts of vaginal penetration, oral sex, or penetration through foreign objects, the point is that such acts constitute grave violation of the woman’s dignity. Rape is rape. Rape is indignity. No matter the nature or specifics, rape is a violation of a person’s humanity,” blasted Clarice Palce, GABRIELA’s Secretary-General.

“We also urge the Supreme Court to remember that this ruling is set against the backdrop of a country where rape victims struggle as it is to find the courage to speak up and seek justice. With this ruling, women would now have the added burden of very specifically demonstrating beyond reasonable doubt that her rapist penetrated ‘into her labia minora’ for the court to consider it to be rape. We have no doubts that there would be even more rape victims forced into silence following this decision. Simply and frankly worded, this is a ruling that favors only perpetrators, not rape victims,” raised Palce.

According to GABRIELA, the Supreme Court’s ruling, which bases its arguments purely on anatomy, poses a danger for rape victims on technical grounds: “There are plenty of women who either do not possess vaginas as in the case of transgender women, women with undeveloped genitals, intersex women, and many more who may face the realities of sexual violence but who clearly would not even be considered rape victims under this ruling,” Palce lamented.