Cheering for RH. Akbayan Representative Walden Bello was among the RH bill supporters who assembled outside the Batasang Pambansa last August 7. Photo by Miguel R. Santiago

ON AUGUST 6, 2012, the House of Representatives terminated the debates on the controversial House Bill No. 4244, commonly known as the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, despite opposition from those against it. The termination of the debates occurred a day earlier than scheduled.

The RH bill will now go to the Committee on Population and Family Relations for amendments, after which it will go to the second reading.

This development is seen as progress for a bill that has been 14 years in the making. What was once a measure seemingly condemned to languishing in the country’s slow legislative processes has now accordingly been put in a faster track, especially as the voting after the first reading sparked vociferous support and opposition.

Voices wanting to be heard

Both the pro- and anti-RH camps have been extremely vocal, following the said termination of the debates and discussion for the first reading.

On one side of the debate are the proponents and supporters who believe that the introduction of the RH bill would help curb overpopulation, poverty, maternal deaths and sexually transmitted diseases while providing sexual education to the youth.

Among these are the 192 faculty members from the Ateneo who recently came out with a statement in support of the RH bill.

“There has to be a cap to the population, there has to be a way by which we can control the growing numbers of this country,” said Political Science Department Chairperson Alma Salvador, PhD, during the Pro-RH bill noise barrage and prayer vigil outside Gate 2.5 of the Ateneo last August 6.

Aside from addressing overpopulation, proponents firmly believe that the RH bill contains provisions that promote women’s rights.

Ceejay Agbayani, a Protestant minister at the Metropolitan Community Church of Quezon City, concurred. Lamenting the plight of women in the country, he said,
“Kailangan ng isang batas upang protektahan ang mga kababaihan. (We need a law that protects women.)”

The opposition

On the other hand, there are also opponents of the bill who say that there are different solutions to the problems of the Philippines which do not infringe on their being Catholic.

“For the people that say that ‘all you Catholics are medieval-minded,’ I think that’s really unfair,” said Richard Cortes, English professor at the University of Asia and the Pacific, who described himself a fervent Catholic.

As a staunch critic of the RH bill, Cortes pointed out that, opposite of what the Filipinos are planning to do, there is the case of Singapore. The said country’s birth rate has declined so much that its founding father Lee Kwan Yew has recently encouraged citizens to have more children so as to increase population, even offering subsidies. This, Cortes said, provides a counterargument to the Filipinos’ fear of overpopulation.

In addition, Cortes also expressed his displeasure with the utilization of contraceptives in the bill, such as intrauterine devices and the combined oral contraceptive pills.

“They are horrid, really horrid,” Cortes said, adding that “some are known by health organizations as helping to increase the risk of cancer. The estrogen and progesterone combination is a group-one carcinogenic to humans. It is as bad as asbestos!”

Finding a compromise

As the bill once again increasingly draws public attention to itself, the proponents and opponents of the bill took to the streets, holding several rallies and protests.

On the day of the voting, each side had strong showings at the Batasang Pambansa Complex, expressing support or opposition. They danced, sang, jeered and prayed as number eight license-plated cars went in and out of the gates.

Kenneth Keng (BS LM ’05), a member of the Filipino Freethinkers, participated in the pro-RH bill rally. “Let me make it very clear,” he said. “Every time a car comes in with a number eight, we want them to know that the people are out here, the people know and are watching, and that democracy has to finally happen after 14 years.”

With the bill now handled by the proper committee for possible amendments, the pro-RH bill movement is viewed to have gone a long way from the slow system with which the bill had to initially labor through. International observers have also noted that the country is thus finally able to see the need to implement such a law that would control a fast-increasing population and help alleviate poverty.