Passing the Reproductive Health Bill into a law was a dramatic and agonising journey both for those who support it and for those who oppose it. Heavy arguments that concentrate on poverty, population control, abortion, and even divorce(!) were thrown left and right by senators, media personalities, academics, priests, and ordinary people. As a matter of fact, the discussion of reproductive health has been brewing in the Philippines for over a year already filling up the newspapers, television shows, and social networking websites every day. However, the biggest debate on this controversy occurred (and is still occurring) between the church and the state. The bishops, for instance, believe that the RH law will promote promiscuity and abortion and is therefore, anti-life. On the other hand, the authors of the bill and its advocates state that the bill ". . .guarantees universal access to methods on contraception, fertility control, sexual education, and maternal care" (Wikipedia) which, for me, makes perfect sense. Obviously, HIV/AIDS and other venereal-disease-related cases in the country are escalating because of the lack of the aforementioned. Although we do have reproductive health measures in the country, people still consider the "sexual" topic as taboo. If only the Filipino public becomes more open to this subject, becomes well-informed of sex education, and are given accessible reproductive health medications and STD-preventive instruments, the number of AIDS and maternal deaths will decline.
While I have my shallow reasons why I want to push for the RH bill (well, I do not have to worry since it has now become a law. THANK GOD!), the anti-RH groups (or pro-life people as they fondly call themselves) also have their rationale why they think the law could harm the country more than it could help the Filipinos.
I have compiled some photos I have stumbled upon over the Web and I am sharing them to you to decide for yourself if there is something alarmingly wrong with the people that we vote into public office and with the divine ones who we look up to when it comes to morality. (Pictures belong to their rightful owners.)
 |
| Found this on a website and this is what comes before the image: "Why would I pay for the RH of someone I never got pregnant – nor even
get intimate with? Go after the father of the child – not another father
who has a child of his own to take care of." AND YOU CALL YOURSELVES MORALLY RIGHT and PRO-LIFE? |
 |
| Okay, let's all have unprotected sex and acquire HIV or worse, AIDS. Then let us transmit the disease to pro-life groups and ask them WHAT the ***k is SAVED SEX! And then let's all die together. |
 |
| So not true. The RH Law DOES NOT LEGALIZE ABORTION. It only states that the ". . . government shall ensure that all women need care for post-abortion complications shall be treated and conseled in a humane, non-judgmental, and compassionate manner." Because yeah, some of our hospitals treat these women as if they're criminals. In fact, some of them do not get proper medication or are sometimes left to bleed to death. |
 |
| RH as in Rejecting Him (capital H, as in God)? Is taking good care of your health rejecting the Lord? Oh please. |
 |
| At the height of the 2012 Manila flooding caused by the Hanging Habagat, this is what an ex-Mayoral candidate says. Is this how responsible parents really think? To bear a lot of children so that they will have many hands to help them in doing dirty or dangerous tasks? |
 |
| Are you saying that it is okay for a family to be very poor and be malnourished for as long as there are enough members who could potentially become caretakers of people from other countries? |
 |
| Because one picture is not enough to emphasize his point. |
 |
| Yes, let's raise children and let them tend farms and haciendas because the school is not the right place for them. But seriously, you think child labour is the biggest reason why RH Bill should be scrapped? |
 |
| Need I say more? |
 |
| The advocates of human exploitation! |
 |
| So this is how some of our lawmakers think? |
It's so sad that a lot of people still do not understand the provisions of the Reproductive Health Law. But I am still hoping that one of these days, these individuals will have an open mind and will be willing to study the bill. For those of you who are still doubtful of the RH law, here are ten facts about it (taken from Sen. Pia Cayetano's blog,
MyDailyRace.com)
- RHBill gives a person freedom to choose what family planning method to use, or NOT to use any method at all.
- RHBill does not legalize abortion. In fact, it explicitly adheres to the penal law on abortion.
- RHBill does not impose an ideal family size and leaves this decision to couples.
- RHBill respects the religious convictions and cultural beliefs of all.
- RHBill will not teach a 10-year-old how to use condoms. RH education is age- and development- appropriate.
- RHBill promotes BOTH natural & artificial methods.
- Contraceptives are safe and effective family planning tools.
- RHBill will not indiscriminately distribute condoms to all.
- An average of 11 mothers die daily. That’s a fact.
- RHBill will not force anyone to act against their ethical or religious beliefs.
For those students and even adults who believe that the RH Law will have a girl or a woman undergo abortion and ligation as a consequence of pregnancy, please please find time to read the provisions of the bill. Doing so will help us all understand the benefits that the Filipino family will get out of this law. Of course, it is not perfect but it will help improve our welfare. And isn't that what we all cry for? To have a better life?
