Opponents of the Reproductive Health Bill once again took to the streets Saturday to voice their opposition to provisions of the legislation like tax-funded access to contraceptives for couples who need them.
Reports are rife that the Lower House, with several lawmakers still waiting to interpellate the bill’s authors, will try to force a vote on it this week, possibly today.
Rep. Rachel Marguerite del Mar of Cebu City’s north district predicted that 161 of 283 congressmen will manifest a resounding “no” to the bill, which had been killed many times in prior sessions of congress.
Human Life International Director Rene Josef Bullecer, however, urged the bill’s opponents to be vigilant. There is no room for complacency until the congressmen’s votes have been tallied.
Filipinos are not the only people of faith who have banded together to oppose perceived State intrusion into matters of conscience.
In the United States, theists of various religions and Christians of different denominations have consolidated their ranks to oppose President Barack Obama’s contraceptive mandate, which would force religious institutions, like Christian universities, to provide insurance coverage for members who want to buy contraceptives or procure an abortion.
The policy has caused a dip in Obama’s popularity ratings. The White House rushed to provide exemptions in the mandate for institutions such as those run by churches and religious groups, but many American politicians continue to oppose the policy because it would still compel, say, an Orthodox businessman, to provide employees with coverage for so-called health services that compromise his freedom of religion.
In the Philippines, surveys may show that Filipinos support the use of contraceptives, but lawmakers cannot just swim with the current. One premise for the RH bill is that Filipinos are poorly informed about reproductive health. If a congressman joins the bandwagon, he or she would be submitting to a poorly formed majority opinion. The lawmaker ought to learn from the story of a woman who was all for an IUD implant until a missionary showed her what the intrauterine device actually is.
President Benigno Aquino III, since employing histrionics at commencement rites at the University of the Philippines in Diliman last year, saying that he would not mind being excommunicated for promoting artificial family planning methods, has been lionized by those who feel that groups like the Catholic Church oppose the RH bill simply because of its penchant for power trips.
These people should take a second look at things. The Church and its supporters, theist or otherwise, have been proven right once again about the superfluity of fascistic population control, and not on a religious point, at that: The HSBC in its report “The World in 2050” projected that the Philippines would become the world’s 16th largest economy by 2050 by virtue of improving macro-economic fundamentals, its rising education standards and large population.
Passing the RH bill would be a sure way to hamper Aquinomics.