Face the Facts, Pass the RH Bill

Ceredeña also  cited the NYC’s National Youth Assessment Study that revealed that unplanned pregnancy was one of the main reasons  young people do not complete their education.

The UNFPA study indicated the rate of teenage pregnancy in the country at 53 out of 1,000 Filipino women aged 15 – 19.

…The youth official is recommending “Age-appropriate reproductive health education” to address is problem.

Parents, have you talked with your kids? Talked WITH, not AT, not TO. Do they know and understand what sex is, how it’s done, and what could happen?

Without the RH Bill, without proper sex education, the worst can and will continue to happen. 

Face the facts today. 

Worth noting: “Experts couldn’t say whether more liberal laws led to fewer procedures, but said good access to birth control in those countries resulted in fewer unwanted pregnancies.”

Amnesty International-Philippines appealed to lawmakers not to let 2011 end without the much-needed measure being passed, saying not one more mother should suffer from preventable maternal death.

Aurora Parong, director of AI-Philippines, said Congress should pass the bill that would help millions of women prevent mistimed and unwanted pregnancies, and have safe pregnancies and child birth.

It could also help improve everyone’s enjoyment of sexual and reproductive rights and enhance personal and family relationships.

The bill, which has received staunch opposition from the Catholic Church, is being debated in the Congress, and there is no indication of when it could be put to a vote. Advocates for the bill have embarked on a series of activities to convince lawmakers to pass it soon.

“Ten years of waiting for the enactment of a reproductive health law is too long. Our lawmakers must get their acts together to enact the law before the year ends,” Parong said in a statement.

She also said preventable maternal deaths have been among the biggest problems affecting women in the country and in most developing countries.

A very good summation on the theological issues at hand with the RH Bill. This is part 1 of a speech by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago.

For those conflicted with their faith and sensibilities, this is worth the read. 

The RH bill is supported by a big majority of Filipinos in the country, as shown by certain nationwide surveys.  In October 2008, Social Weather Stations reported that 71 percent were in favor of the RH bill.  In October 2010, Pulse Asia reported that 69 percent were in favor of the RH bill.

Despite these surveys, certain Catholics, notably certain bishops, seem poised to fight to the death against the RH bill.  To understand why Catholics are so divided on this issue, and why there is such fierce antipathy, we must go back to the Second Vatican Council, the greatest of the councils held by the Catholic Church…[read more]

How ironic that the women most affected by the decisions of political and religious leaders about their wombs and sexual behavior, are accorded the least say on their expressed need for reproductive health services. Although it is their lives that hang in the balance, celibate males and conservative Catholic laity unabashedly speak for them in these matters. Let us for a change listen to poor women’s voices, as articulated in empirical studies like Likhaan’s “Imposing Misery: The Impact of Manila’s Ban on Contraception.” (2007) It details some of the effects of former Mayor Lito Atienza’s Executive Order 003 passed in 2000 declaring total commitment and support only to natural family planning methods.

Rosario (fictitious name to protect her identify) speaks: “I feel anxious and fearful of the chance of getting pregnant if I don’t have money to buy pills, unlike before when I used to get injectables for free, which were very convenient and effective for months …. I got depressed when the mayor banned family planning. It was a big loss for many mothers…”

Laarni, already in her eighth pregnancy, explains, “My life was put at risk when I gave birth to my fifth child … The doctor … said that this should be my last pregnancy or else my children would suffer if I die…. The doctor really wanted me to have a ligation but she couldn’t do anything since it was banned in the hospital.”