Short answer. A physician or midwife who takes advantage of their scientific knowledge or skill to cause or assist in an abortion is punished under Article 259 of the Revised Penal Code with the penalty for intentional abortion in its maximum period. A pharmacist who dispenses an abortive without a proper prescription is separately punished.
What the law says
The penalties provided in Article 256 shall be imposed in its maximum period, respectively, upon any physician or midwife who, taking advantage of their scientific knowledge or skill, shall cause an abortion or assist in causing the same.
Revised Penal Code, Article 259 — Abortion By Physician Or Midwife. Read the full provision →
Why the professional is treated more harshly
Article 259 does not create a separate scale of penalties. It takes the penalty that would apply to anyone who intentionally causes an abortion and directs that it be imposed in its maximum period when the offender is a physician or a midwife who used their training to do it. The aggravating element is the abuse of professional skill and of the trust that comes with it. It applies whether the professional performed the procedure personally or merely assisted, and the woman’s consent does not remove the professional from the article — consent affects only which base penalty applies.
The base penalties come from Article 256
Article 256 sets three levels for intentional abortion: the heaviest where violence was used on the pregnant woman, a lower one where there was no violence but no consent either, and the lowest where the woman consented. A doctor or midwife is placed at the maximum period of whichever of those levels the facts call for.
The article covers the deliberate act. Where a pregnancy ends because of genuine negligence rather than intent, or as the unavoidable consequence of treating a life-threatening condition, the analysis is different and turns on evidence of intent, medical necessity and standard of care.
Fines, licences and the RA 10951 revision
A pharmacist who dispenses an abortive without a proper prescription faces arresto mayor and a fine. That fine, and the money figures throughout this Code, were rewritten by Republic Act No. 10951 (2017); older reprints of the Revised Penal Code still show the 1930 amounts, so always check which version a source is giving you.
Criminal liability is also only one track. A conviction, and sometimes the conduct alone, can trigger separate administrative proceedings before the professional regulatory board that issued the licence, and a civil claim by the woman or her family may proceed independently of the criminal case.
Who else can be charged
The article names physicians, midwives and pharmacists, but it does not stand alone. Anyone who intentionally causes an abortion answers under the general provision, the woman who consents to it has her own liability, and a person who helps arrange or finance the procedure may be treated as a participant. Nurses, technicians and clinic staff who are not physicians or midwives fall outside this particular article, though not outside the Code. The point is that Article 259 aggravates the liability of the trained professional; it does not confine liability to them.