The Fight For Birth Control

Manila, Philippines – Although the Philippines is a relatively modern nation in terms of its views, the country in the past few weeks has been experiencing a long-drawn debate on a controversial issue that is the Reproductive Health Bill.

In the midst of the monsoon that lasted almost two weeks last August,  Filipinos against the passing of the bill started posting on social networking site Facebook that “God’s wrath has befallen the country” even if the monsoon did not affect other parts of the Philippines.

Father Melvin Castro, the Executive Secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life said, “Preventing fertilization is not a surgical but a chemical or medical abortion.” Castro also said that the government is dipping its toes in a territory beyond its authority and that it is “legislating an immoral law”.

Cecilia Lopez, a 52-year-old mother of 12 and a regular church-goer said in an interview with CNN that she does not agree with Castro. “When you use them, it’s not like you’ve sided with evil,” she added.

Philippine politics has suffered for decades because of the moral influence of the Catholic Church both on politicians and voters.

Solita Monsod stated, “Legislators are called on regularly by bishops, one by one, and some priests visit legislators in their districts, to convince them to drop support or strengthen their opposition to the bill.”

Photo: Women On The Road

From Around The Web

Promoting Reproductive Health: A Unified Straetgy to Achieve the MDGs

Isn't using birth control better than having unwanted teen pregnancies and abortions? 

Kill 'Bill'?

Condoms, HIV-AIDS and Africa -The Pope Was Right

Aquino risks Church ire on reproductive health bill

The Catholic Position on the RH Bill: Call to Prayer

Editor's note: Even though we support the RH bill editorially, we are nevertheless posting the link below which supports opposing the RH bill. We do this in the interests of providing as much balanced coverage on any issue as possible. The Diliman Diary welcomes all points of view and all perspectives, and readers are encouraged to email us at: dilimandiary@yahoo.com. Attention: The Editor.

Read the rest here:

The Catholic Position on the RH Bill: Call to Prayer: (I will maintain this post as the lead post of this blog until October 10, 2011. Newer articles below . CAP) In the face of the onslaught ...

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago's Pick-up lines

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on the RH bill

"Experts estimate that it will cost government some P3 billion a year to implement the RH law. This is considered modest. In the context of promoting development in less developed countries, the higher cost-benefit ratio is obtained from family planning programs than from infrastructures investment. Similar hardware requirements for development are more lumpy, time-consuming, and demand longer gestation periods."

"The RH cost of P3 billion a year is only one-seventh, or 14.3 percent, of the P21 billion cost of the Conditional Cash Transfer program. The two programs should be compared. On the one hand, the RH program is self-targeting, meaning that typically, it is the poor who self-select to obtain RH services which they cannot afford on their own. The RH program is simpler and less costly to administer."

Read the rest here.

To also read the account of former U.P. College of Law Dean Raul C. Pangalangan's account of Senator Santiago's lecture today at Malcolm Hall, U.P. College of Law on the RH bill,please click on this link:

Miriam: Whoever says ‘darling, let us procreate’?