Lagman: When life begins irrelevant

The contentious issue of when life begins is not relevant to the proposed reproductive health (RH) law, according to Minority Leader Representative Edcel Lagman.

Lagman, principal sponsor of the RH bill which is undergoing plenary debate in the House of Representatives, was reacting to a proposal of anti-RH bill proponents to settle the question of when life begins in line with the Catholic Church’s view that some contraceptives are “abortifacients.”

Countered Lagman: “The issue of when life begins is a non-issue with respect to the use of contraceptives because the mechanism of injectibles, for example, is to prevent ovulation. If there is no ovulation, there is no fertilization, no conception, no fetus.”

He said in an interview the same held true for other mechanisms of birth control such as condoms and intrauterine devices (IUDs) which prevent a sperm cell from fertilizing an egg from the ovary.

“Again, if there is no fertilization, there is no conception, no fetus, Lagman said, adding that people should not expect the courts to answer the question of when life begins because even theology experts were not unanimous about it.

No constitutional ban

At any rate, Lagman said, there is no constitutional provision that prohibits the manufacture, distribution, sale and use of contraceptives.

Also, there has been no test case wherein a couple or a woman sued manufacturers of pills and other forms of contraceptives, or physicians who prescribed pills for abortion, he said.

“None, because that’s impossible. There is no fetus being expelled or terminated by contraceptives. Abortion has been defined as expulsion of a fetus,” Lagman said.

Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said that those opposed to the RH bill like herself should not be faulted for the raising religious perpective in the RH debate.

End up with religion

“We have different legislators who will interpellate (on the bill), and we will all end up touching religion to a certain extent because we are as persons molded by who we are and when we  were born, (so) religious beliefs and convictions, they will always come up,” Magsaysay said.

Lagman earlier said he would no longer answer repetitive questions during interpellation, especially those that question the RH proponents’ religious beliefs.

On the website put up by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to campaign for the rejection of the RH bill Lagman said it was within the Catholic hierarchy’s right to say anything it wanted as long as it was within the bounds of law.

“They have the right to have that website but there should be self-imposed restraints on not to have malicious statements or false propaganda,” he added.

Although Catholics are against the RH bill, other religions such as the Iglesia Ni Kristo, the Iglesia Filipina Independente, and Evangelical, Methodist, Adventist and Episcopal denominations and some Muslim groups have endorsed the RH bill, Lagman had said earlier. Cynthia D. Balana