Editorial Opinion

Pass the RH bill

By
Published September 15, 2012 at 2:09 am

Fourteen years after its first incarnation, House Bill No. 4244, commonly known as the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, is nearer than it has ever been to being enacted into law.

There is overwhelming evidence for the need for stronger reproductive health education and greater access to contraceptives in the country. In the past decade, we’ve seen an increase in HIV/AIDS cases and teenage pregnancies and a rising maternal mortality rate. This is especially alarming considering that these rates have decreased on a global scale.

The bill will provide proper education about the options available to Filipino couples in reaching their ideal family size. Both artificial and natural methods of contraception will be at their disposal to give them the freedom to choose the method most appropriate for them.

Dispelling misconceptions about sexuality and sexual health with proper sex education, as mandated in the bill, will also curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and the surge in unwanted pregnancies.

The debate over the bill has been heated, marked by harsh, dismissive language and rhetorical barbs on both sides. Time and again, statistics have been disregarded and research has been misrepresented—not to mention plagiarized—in the effort to fight the bill. Ignorant and condemnatory statements have been made, invoking a rigid kind of Catholic theologizing completely out of touch with temporal realities.

While religious viewpoints must be respected in the debates on the bill, arguments from religion must also be seen in light of the dire need for organized and concrete human action that would address human realities. Moreover, the plurality of views constituting the debate must be taken into account—sweeping fundamentalist positions do not sufficiently resolve the complex issues the bill tackles.

The Ateneo itself has come under fire for the “heretical” 192 professors who signed a declaration of support for the bill. In fact, threats by some powerful clergymen to strip the Ateneo of its Catholic status or to investigate the said professors have been made in public.

The immediate outcry against the professors summarily dismissed the argument that the bill stands in line with Catholic social teaching. What’s more unsettling, though, is how some members of the CBCP seem to believe that universities are merely channels of indoctrination rather than institutions that foster intelligent discourse.

In reality, that is exactly what the nation needs more of—openness to dissent and dialogue. There must be room to discuss issues rationally for the country to progress.

We find precisely that merit in the RH bill, a measure that favors education over misinformation. Its thrust for education ultimately empowers women and families.

In light of everything that has been said above, The GUIDON supports the passage of the RH bill. The enactment into law of the measure will be a defining moment in our history, and will also be seen as a triumph of rational and compassionate lawmaking.

More than that, however, the RH bill will address the sad realities that often characterize the lives—and even cause the deaths—of too many of our fellow Filipinos, especially of women living in poverty. In the end, it is them who our thoughts are with, as we hope that the struggle for the RH bill be carried through to victory.


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