Reproductive Health Bill: Glitch or Solution?
What is RH Bill?
The Reproductive Health bills, popularly known as the RH Bill, are Philippine bills aiming to guarantee universal access to methods and information on birth control and maternal care. The bills have become the center of a contentious national debate. There are presently two bills with the same goals: House Bill No. 4244 or An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health, and Population and Development, and For Other Purposes introduced by Albay 1st district RepresentativeEdcel Lagman, and Senate Bill No. 2378 or An Act Providing For a National Policy on Reproductive Health and Population and Development introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago.
While there is general agreement about its provisions on maternal and child health, there is great debate on its key proposal that the Philippine government and the private sector will fund and undertake widespread distribution of family planning devices such as condoms,birth control pills (BCPs) and IUDs, as the government continues to disseminate information on their use through all health care centers.
The bill is highly divisive, with experts, academics, religious institutions, and major political figures supporting and opposing it, often criticizing the government and each other in the process. Debates and rallies for and against the bill, with tens of thousands participating particularly those held by the opposition, have been happening all over the country.
On 27 July 2012, the Speaker of the House decided to put to a vote by 7 August 2012 whether the debates have to be terminated. In response, pro-life groups and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines have decided to call for a "Prayer Power Rally”, on 4 August 2012 at the historic Edsa Shrine. Meanwhile, 6 co-authors of the bill withdrew support, with the head of the minority group of the house declaring that 8 of their group are withdrawing their previous support for the bill.
It has been known that our country's population, the Philippines, has grown by 600,000, which is really alarming. Even our president, Ninoy Aquino III, emphasized the term "Responsible Parenthood" on his latest SONA.
The Five-Point Position On Responsible Parenthood of President Ninoy Aquino III
1. I am against abortion.
2. I am in favor of giving couples the right to choose how best to manage their families so that in the end, their welfare and that of their children are best served.
3. The State must respect each individual’s right to follow his or her conscience and religious convictions on matters and issues pertaining to the unity of the family and the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death.
4. In a situation where couples, especially the poor and disadvantaged ones, are in no position to make an informed judgment, the State has the responsibility to so provide.
5. In the range of options and information provided to couples, natural family planning and modern methods shall be presented as equally available.
Reaction
How does RH Bill affect the country's economy?
Ageing population has dangerous economic consequences, and it has already been evident in the present time. Overpopulation causes pollution, crimes, starvation and poverty. Because of uncontrolled births, the parents of the babies being given birth to, has to provide the needs of a baby, such as food, shelter, clothes, and many more. Yet, due to excessive number of births, those people can not provide those things, they may provide their children with little of these things, but it really is insufficient.
As those babies grow up, due to the insufficient wages of their parents, can not finish school, or worse, they can't even go to school. It is very hard for someone who's illiterate or someone who does not have a college degree to find a job. So unemployment rate would increase, so would the crime rate.
The Five-Point Position On Responsible Parenthood of President Ninoy Aquino III
1. I am against abortion.
2. I am in favor of giving couples the right to choose how best to manage their families so that in the end, their welfare and that of their children are best served.
3. The State must respect each individual’s right to follow his or her conscience and religious convictions on matters and issues pertaining to the unity of the family and the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death.
4. In a situation where couples, especially the poor and disadvantaged ones, are in no position to make an informed judgment, the State has the responsibility to so provide.
5. In the range of options and information provided to couples, natural family planning and modern methods shall be presented as equally available.
Reaction
How does RH Bill affect the country's economy?
Ageing population has dangerous economic consequences, and it has already been evident in the present time. Overpopulation causes pollution, crimes, starvation and poverty. Because of uncontrolled births, the parents of the babies being given birth to, has to provide the needs of a baby, such as food, shelter, clothes, and many more. Yet, due to excessive number of births, those people can not provide those things, they may provide their children with little of these things, but it really is insufficient.
As those babies grow up, due to the insufficient wages of their parents, can not finish school, or worse, they can't even go to school. It is very hard for someone who's illiterate or someone who does not have a college degree to find a job. So unemployment rate would increase, so would the crime rate.
My Stand
I am in favor of implementing RH Bill. It is because in our time, it is not very practical to give birth multiple times and leave the responsibility. I, my self, have seen many child beggars on the streets, many of them are illiterate, and as they grow older, illiteracy would be a huge problem and finding a solution would take so much time. I know that many people are not in favor of implementing this bill due to their religious beliefs, and this controversy, I bet, will not end. This issue has really a large impact in our economy.
First, these growing children cannot go to school and finding a stable job would be hard, so employment rate would decrease while the number of unemployed people would unsurprisingly increase.
Second is illegal child labor; the unsupported children, as innocent as they are, are being asked by their irresponsible parents to work, even though some of them receive their salaries, many are fooled and sometimes, their employers give them the wrong amount of salary.
Third, and the bottom line is the never-dying poverty. Poverty is the effect of irresponsible parenthood. I have both open eyes and I can see the pain of the marginalized people in our society. Because of poverty, poor people cannot afford to buy goods, if they can, it is not sufficient to feed the whole family or to feed them three times a day. Because of poverty, crime rate would increase, as well as the consumption of drugs.
And lastly, I am aware that these people see our government as evil. Government is always blamed, every bad thing that happens in our country is the sin of the government, which I would like to contradict. We vote our officials, which means we trust them, so we must not blame them for every little thing because we are too lazy.
First, these growing children cannot go to school and finding a stable job would be hard, so employment rate would decrease while the number of unemployed people would unsurprisingly increase.
Second is illegal child labor; the unsupported children, as innocent as they are, are being asked by their irresponsible parents to work, even though some of them receive their salaries, many are fooled and sometimes, their employers give them the wrong amount of salary.
Third, and the bottom line is the never-dying poverty. Poverty is the effect of irresponsible parenthood. I have both open eyes and I can see the pain of the marginalized people in our society. Because of poverty, poor people cannot afford to buy goods, if they can, it is not sufficient to feed the whole family or to feed them three times a day. Because of poverty, crime rate would increase, as well as the consumption of drugs.
And lastly, I am aware that these people see our government as evil. Government is always blamed, every bad thing that happens in our country is the sin of the government, which I would like to contradict. We vote our officials, which means we trust them, so we must not blame them for every little thing because we are too lazy.
- Bishop Efraim Tendero (Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches)
Whatever stand we have, we should always be open-minded and be mindful of the things and deeds we do and say, because RH Bill can change our lives...so what's your stand?
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