“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I
consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5
Last
December 22, President Aquino signed the Reproductive Health Bill into a law (RA 10354). There was no funfare and no press release was made. In fact if not for a media leak, the palace planned to announce it after the new year. During the house and senate vote the week before, as I was listening to the explanations of our representatives and senators, both pro and anti-RH Bill, I was appalled by the line of
reasoning of many of them. Some of the arguments used by those who
voted NO are shallow and self-serving, saying our economy is dependent
upon OFW remittances and that we should populate the earth with Filipinos. While
those who voted for YES have convinced themselves that too
many Filipinos will be the destruction of our society, that the only way
to solve poverty, prevent maternal and child death and espouse women's
rights is to promote a contraceptive mentality amongst our people. They
have convinced themselves that they are doing this for the Filipino women, exercising sovereignty and the separation of church and state by
not being influenced by religion, yet are willing to be influenced by
foreign funding agencies. They seem to have conveniently forgotten the
fact that the RH Bill was introduced because the Philippines does not
have an enabling law on population control, which is part of the requirement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of which the country is a signatory, the UN and the US
(aka USAID). So what sovereignty are they talking about? They have misled the people into believing that this is a reproductive health law when in reality, it is a population control law.
Life is a gift from God. From the moment of conception, every human life is precious and every human life is sacred. Amidst
all the rich variety of life on earth, human life is cause for special
wonder. We alone can contemplate the beauty around us. We alone can
create art and music and literature to express this beauty. We alone can
love one another. And so, it is deplorable that there are
people who are against life and seek to redefine, limit and destroy it.
If we were not human upon conception, what were we then?
I
cannot understand how government and policy makers can look upon human
life as a threat to development. Is it not humanity who makes
development possible? Family
planning (FP) programs introduced in the country since the early 70's failed not because of the absence
of an enabling law, not because of the influence of the Catholic Church,
not because people are poor. It failed mainly because of lack of
education, poor implementation and lack of access to health services and FP programs. A
new law will not ensure implementation, more so when it is an unjust
law. The government should instead focus on eliminating graft and
corruption; provide jobs, low-cost housing, free health care and good
education to all Filipinos. When you have all these in place, you limit
if not totally eliminate poverty. Overpopulation is not the cause of
poverty! And who can predict if the RH Bill's provisions will indeed
control the population? If it fails...then can an abortion amendment be
far behind? Proponents say this will never happen, but once there is
an enabling law, it is fact that amendments can be easily made.
Experience worldwide shows that once abortion is legalized, even in
limited and extraordinary conditions, it becomes more widespread than
was
first intended because then, interpretation can become relative. I am
truly horrified with the thought. Someone asked me why I am scaring
myself with "future ghosts" when these are not realities yet. My
answer was simple. With the deterioration of moral values in the world
and it seems that now-a-days nothing is objectively right or wrong, who
is to say that an amendment to allow abortion will not happen 20, 30,
40 or more years from now? Do we want to go the way of "developed"
countries where human life has been devalued and disrespected?
Human
life is beautiful...human beings should value each other, help one
another, treat each other with respect from the moment of conception to
the end of life.
If the RH Law says that Filipinos have a right to choose, then I choose not to obey this law that. After all, Obedience to God comes before obedience to man.
If the RH Law says that Filipinos have a right to choose, then I choose not to obey this law that. After all, Obedience to God comes before obedience to man.
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| 12 weeks old fetus |
