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"A large family is a sign of God's blessings."

Which is the most spoken language in the world?

Most people who are asked this question will most probably answer American English. That was my answer, too, when I was first asked this when I was younger. But I was completely wrong and astonished to find out that the correct answer is Chinese. I then asked my own question: Why? A few years later I found out the answer to that – China is the most populous country in the world.

And as a matter of fact, as of 2010, the United States of America is only third, lagging behind India by 700 million. Our country is 12th, with 99 million citizens, which pushed the government to propose this Reproductive Health Bill.

A little bit of research told me that the history of reproductive health in our country actually dates back to 1967, when leaders of 12 countries including our very own Former President and maniac Dictator Ferdinand Marcos signed the Declaration on Population, wherein the Philippines agreed that the population problem can be considered as the principal element for long-term economic development.

Economics states that the main goal of any problem is achieved when every man works for himself. After watching the first half of the movie “A Beautiful Mind,” a story about a man who studied at Harvard to be an engineer and developed the mental illness called schizophrenia, I do not believe this theory. Because it’s when every man works not only for himself but also for his companions that we can co-exist harmoniously.

More research led to knowledge that House bills 101 and 513, and Senate Bill 2378 define the term “reproductive health care” as follows:

Reproductive Health Care – refers to the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes. This implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life, that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so, provided that these are not against the law. This further implies that women and men attain equal relationships in matters related to sexual relations and reproduction.

House Bill 96 replaces “have a satisfying and safe sex life” with “ENJOY responsible and safe SEX.” Yes, reproductive health care encourages us to enjoy having sex with everyone.

Meanwhile, Reproductive Rights are defined by House Bills 101, 513, 1160, 3387, and Senate Bill 2378 as follows:

The rights of individuals and couples, to decide freely and responsibly whether or not to have children; the number, spacing and timing of their children; to make other decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence; to have the information and means to do so; and to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health.

Most people, especially teenagers, will not see the underlying messages in these accounts. You see, politicians are very familiar with the law and loopholes and verbal engineering. This means that with their deceptive words, they can disguise anything evil as something good. When they say that people will be able to enjoy responsible sex, they are also implying that we, young adults, and even younger children, can enjoy sex legally, since children and teens are also individuals. So, if this RH Bill gets approved, I can have sex with anyone I want and not get punished!

The content of the bill is divided into 34 sections, including (7) access to family planning, (10) family planning supplies as essential medicines, (14) benefits for serious and life-threatening reproductive health conditions, (16) mandatory age-appropriate reproductive health and sexuality education, (20) ideal family size, (21) employers’ responsibilities. There are a lot more but these are the ones that got my attention – and it ain't good.

“The bill mandates the government to ‘promote, without bias, all effective natural and modern methods of family planning that are medically safe and legal.’” Yes, modern methods like using IUD’s. IUD stands for intra-uterine device, a “birth-control device” placed in the uterus to prevent pregnancy. And it’s something that looks like this:

Yes, they put that into your body, ladies. I’m not old-fashioned – believe me, because I am a girl who is hungry for a Macbook Pro, an HD video camera, my own electric guitar, and a new state-of-the-art phone, like an iPhone 5 maybe. But seeing an object like IUD knowing that it can be put inside my body like it’s some evolution of the sonogram device . . . It completely freaks me out. Plus the combined estrogen-progesterone contraceptives. Do you know what the term carcinogenic means? It comes from the word carcinogens, substances that, when taken in, increase the risk of having cancer. These estrogen-progesterone contraceptives, the most common type prescribed globally, are carcinogenic. When you take these, you are not only killing a baby fetus but you are killing yourself as well. And the cost of two deaths at the price of one? Isn’t that what the RH Bill wants? To lessen the population? By taking these contraceptives, you are helping them achieve that goal.

“Under the bill, age appropriate reproductive health and sexuality education is required from grade five to fourth year high school using ‘life-skills and other approaches.’” Oh my God. What “skills and approaches” are you talking about? Like the cambio and other “approaches” and whatnot? Don’t judge me for knowing these (I’ve had boy servicemates my entire life); I am merely stating a point. Anyone would be a fool to think that this sex education in schools will actually help stop teens to engage in intercourse. And frankly, we already know all about two people kissing and sleeping together and “making love” because of media. Yes, media has already exposed us to these kinds of scenes, and we don’t need to see these on the one place besides our home where we were supposed to be taught moral values.

Now, the proponents (the douchebags that proposed the bill) are saying that the bill is supposed to keep maternal deaths from occurring. They argue that ten to eleven maternal deaths daily could be reduced if they had access to basic health care and essential minerals like iron and calcium, according to DOH. Well, if that’s the case, the solution is very simple. The government simply has to provide food like milk, cheese, fruits, sea vegetables and fish to people, especially mothers, who couldn’t afford them. If that truly is the main purpose of the RH Bill, this is a better alternative. The problem with you people is that you are always trying to complicate these things because of the law, when the key approach to science is the basic and simple concepts.

The opponents of the bill argue that the bill takes away limited government funds from treating many high priority medical and food needs and transfers them to fund harmful and deadly devices. Latest studies show that the ordinary birth control pill and IUD are abortifacient to fertilized eggs, meaning they increase chances of abortion, killing human embryos. Now tell me, does the RH Bill still seem anti-abortion to you?

The RH Bill is wrong because it believes that the big population of the Philippines is to blame for the country’s dawdling development. The proponents are so egotistical and conceited that they think they don't contribute to this. Look at Japan and United States. US is the 3rd most populous and Japan is 10th, whereas we are only 12th. But their economy is high. Why? It started at the end of the Marcos regime. The former president lost us a lot of money, and it was hard for the then-president, Cory Aquino, to balance her focus on reviving our economy and battling the forces of the coup d’etat. Before Marcos went all crazy, one US dollar was equal to two Philippine pesos. Could you believe that? When I first heard about this, I almost didn’t. But Marcos was a very powerful man. And in the end, he used that power for evil and lost control.

You see? It’s all science. It tells us to explore all possibilities. The RH Bill does not. Corruption and bad governance, these are what’s really to blame. Because, as the Catholic Church put out, “A large family is a sign of God’s blessings.” And man is the number one most important resource of the country. Without man, who would invent new technologies? Who would run the large companies? Who would tend the farms? Who would teach young men? No matter how many natural resources we have like gold or corals or food, all of these don’t matter when there is no man to make something more out of them. And the RH Bill is stopping us from doing that. Bernardo Villegas, author of Myth of Unmet Family Planning Needs, stressed that: “because the poor have been deprived of the infrastructures they need, such as farm-to-market roads, irrigation systems, post-harvest facilities and other support services that the State neglected to provide them, the only economic resources they have are their children.”

“It is never lawful, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil that good may come out of it,” say 42 prominent international Catholic scholars. “The bill disrespects poor people, and focuses primarily on providing services to curb the number of children of the poor, while doing little to remedy their situation.”

This line caught me really off-guard the moment I read it: “The proponents applauded government efforts last February 2010 when it distributed condoms in some areas of Manila.” Hey, douchebags. Do you know exactly who gets to use these condoms? Teens. Males and females both. These teens use these condoms to have premarital sex, and the government gave them the motivation to! And if ever some adults did get the condoms, they used it to have extramarital sex. That, my friends, is the act of a spouse to have intercourse with someone who is not married to him or her. Yes, these condoms, which are also supported by the RH Bill, allow people to do these immoral acts. Plus, you get HIV, AIDS and STD’s when you “make love” even with a condom, so giving them out won’t lessen that risk. What these poor families need is education – something that, apparently, you also lack.

I want to say more, but this is all I got for now. I’ve put a lot of effort into this post because this is really something that concerns, and will concern us in the future. Yes, I am talking to you, my fellow teenager. Forget about the adults – we’re the ones who can make or break this. But if you didn’t read these things I mentioned above then fine. These are my key points, though:

The RH Bill is practically suggesting us to, “Go! Have fun! Enjoy your young lives and have sex with anyone you want, married or not. And if you are, you can even have sex with someone you’re not married to!”
The proponents of the RH Bill claim that they are anti-abortion, but let’s take a look again at the IUD, something the bill is very supportive of. IUD’s can kill human embryos. And isn’t abortion about killing these human embryos?
The RH Bill will teach children as young as 11 years old how to have sex with someone. And this is very ironic. You teach them how to have sex, and then you teach them how to abort?
The RH Bill believes that our country’s big population is the root cause of our bad economy, when in fact it’s them – corrupt officials – that are the ones to blame. The bill practically screams killing humans.
The RH Bill will waste our taxes – yes, money we will so have worked hard on – on very expensive and proven deadly devices, when in fact, this money should be used on medicines that will treat real diseases. Or is that another excuse to let the sick people slowly die, thus lessening our population which they so greatly want?

The proponents of the RH Bill, and I guess even ordinary Filipino citizens, are telling the Church to back off from the issue. Yes, I know that our country is a secular state, and the government can do whatever they want without the permission of the Church. But let’s be mindful of erroneous conscience and the right conscience. We should listen to the latter. We will be able to, with the help from the Father. As President Noynoy Aquino stressed, “I’m a Catholic, I am not promoting it (RH Bill). My position is more aptly called responsible parenthood rather than reproductive health.” Responsible. And isn’t that what we, as stewards of God’s wonderful creation, are called to be?

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_Health_bill

http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/most-populous-countries.html

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/calcium/a/06_calcium_food.htm

http://www.fatfreekitchen.com/nutrition/iron.html

Labels: practice?, RH Bill

Thursday, May 12, 2011

3:29 AM

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This picture isn't mine. Credits to the owner :) I like it so I'm keeping it. HAHA.

My name is Denise Soriano. IV-Chofu, ESC Committee Head on Discipline, Managing Editor (Administrative) of Echoes, YES member and PSYSC affiliate. Weeeee!

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"A large family is a sign of God's blessings."

Thursday, May 12, 2011

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