Pro, anti-RH bill advocates build case before public

Proponents of the Reproductive Health bill vowed to pass the measure before the year ends while Catholic Church opponents continued to reject it as immoral  in a forum on the issue held yesterday.

The “RH Bill: Yes or No?” forum held at the University of Cebu-Maritime Education Training Center  was attended by college students from Cebu and Dumaguete. Panel speakers represented the Church, Congress and the National Youth Commission were

Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros said followers of the Catholic Church  support the bill.

“Only the church hierarchy is opposed to it,” Hontiveros, one of the bill’s co-authors, told reporters.

She said they are lobbying for support from other lawmakers and consulting with grassroots sectors  to intensify their campaign.

Hontiveros said the bill will help prevent unwanted pregnancies  so that couples don’t resort to abortion.

She said  a study  by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) showed that  nearly 800,000 abortions were reported every year and at least 11 women die daily due to dangerous pregnancies.

“Giving  families and couples the right to decide the number of children they  prefer would promote equity in their family. Family planning aids families in poverty,” she said.

But Msgr. Dennis Villarojo  of the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Capitol parish in Cebu City, said the bill promotes promiscuity among the youth by offering the use of artificial contraceptives.

He said this distorts the value of sex, which is supposed to be for “unity and procreation” and lays the ground  for abortion.

“Because of these anomalies, the moral foundation will collapse,” Villorojo said.

He said that if the RH bill seeks to protect women, it would undermine the Magna Carta for Women, a law which upholds the right of women to basic health care.

Villorojo said the use of contraceptives like condoms would only provide a “false sense of invincibility” to the users and would encourage them to be more promiscuous.

“Instead of focusing on this, they should try to solve poverty and graft and corruption,” he said referring to the role of national lawmakers.