what's wrong with the RH Bill?
By murkie
@murkie (1103)
Philippines
March 28, 2011 7:36am CST
the reproductive health (rh) bill is highly debated. the catholic church is so against it, to the extent that it (cc)even threatened to excommunicate the president if he so approves of it.
in my understanding, this bill aims to promote natural and modern methods of family planning that are medically and legally safe. there are more provisions in this bill, most of which i could agree to (awareness, labor-related issues, economic effects, etc). this bill does not specifically support abortion.
if it supports reproductive health, which by the way would seem beneficial to health (esp women's), family, economy, and to the country as a whole, why is the catholic church have a strong opposition to it? what's your stand on this issue?
2 people like this
8 responses
@aerous (13434)
• Philippines
29 Mar 11
There might be some reason why the bills did still debated in the congress due to the petition filed by the Catholic Bishop of the Philippines, in the supreme court.
CBCP always reiterated that the bills is not a prolife bills. Because the bills violated the commandments of God. Which says "Go and multiply" this is what concern by the CBCP which is immaterial to the bills being pass...this is only my opinion
@visijay32 (447)
• Philippines
30 Mar 11
God, indeed, said "Go forth and multiply", but we must understand as to when he said those words. They were directed to the first people on earth, and then he said this also to Noah and his family after the deluge. It is only logical to "go forth and multiply" because there were only 8 people on earth after the great flood.
Now, with our present economic condition, it should be "go forth and multiply IF you have the MEANS to support your family no matter how large you want it to be."
Besides population concern there is also of health issues. We hope that the catholic church will be the first to raise their hand and say "we will shoulder the medical expenses of would be AIDS victim in the country." (but we all know that this is just a wishful thinking).
Just this afternoon, an angry mother rushed to our neighbor's house because her 16-year-old daughter eloped with our neighbor's son who has no means to support the girl. Fortunately, the mother was able to get the girl back.
Imagine if they do have a child, their family will become an additional burden of our government; a bane instead of a boon.
@marcjaysonc (14)
• Philippines
29 Mar 11
becoz it defies the bible thing..
na lahat ng tao ay dapat magparami...
@visijay32 (447)
• Philippines
29 Mar 11
God said that to Adam and Eve because they are the only Human inhabitants of earth. And then he gave that also that order to Noah after He destroyed mankind with the deluge. Meaning, the total population then was only 8, the number of people who was inside the ark.
@visijay32 (447)
• Philippines
29 Mar 11
grammar error! I wrote "people who was inside the ark" it should have been "who WHERE" :) sorry
@mkchaves (530)
• Canada
30 Mar 11
I am for the RH bill. And yes, you're right, it's for the benefit of everybody. Clearly, church have not seen people living in the squatters or families having 12 children and they've got nothing to eat. Sad to say that the Philippines is overpopulated, and it is right to pass that RH Bill.
@stanly012992 (241)
• Philippines
14 Apr 11
For me this RH bill has no problem, only close minded person could say that this has a problem.Indeed, the objectives of this idea was to eradicate poverty which caused of rapidly increased of population and foster a good life of a people.These are the some of reason why RH bill is good:Protect the health & lives of mothers,Save babies,respond to the majority who want smaller families,promote equity for poor families, and,prevent induced abortions.
@murkie (1103)
• Philippines
14 Apr 11
that's what i thought so. the church seems to be too assuming in their role in the society, to the extent that they even convince their followers to go against it. sad to say, most of the followers themselves never weigh the issues. there were too many instances where followers just followed without even asking why.
@Rapuncille (597)
• Philippines
28 Mar 11
i'm a catholic but i am for that bill. the catholic church has the power to advise on which road to take but it shouldn't be the one deciding on it. after all, it won't carry the burdens related to the problems brought about by over population. let's admit it, overpopulation is one major reason why we can't move forward and why criminality is very much rampant nowadays. proper parenting should be given emphasis. to me, bringing a baby which you can't feed and attend to and will later on turn into a criminal is a graver sin than opting to use a modern method of family planning (if it really is a sin).
@murkie (1103)
• Philippines
29 Mar 11
i agree with you. unfortunately though, it would seem that such programs would only apply to at least the lower middle class up.
i've observed that most of our poorer country folks aren't that willing to participate in some government programs. i don't know if this is due to unawareness or just plain stubbornness. but some supposedly beneficial programs does not reach them. probably most of them are even reluctant to approach a local government agent. and they belong to families who needed serious family planning.
@Rapuncille (597)
• Philippines
29 Mar 11
It could be both unawareness and stubbornness. If rh bill will be passed and will not be taken advantaged of those who most need them, then ii would say it is more of stubbornness, i guess. Most of those folks are blinded by the belief that it is their children who should work for them and would bail them out of poverty. They are following simple statistics; the more children you have, the bigger the probability that one of them will give u a good life. But in reality, it is not as simple as that. You may have tons of children but if they were not brought up well, neglected and not properly fed, the probability of them bringing in more problems for you outweighs the chances of bringing you good life. Most parents have this false belief that they are their children's responsibility and not the otherwise. Rh bill should practically be tied up with other programs to promote responsible parenting.
@gericapuno (51)
• Philippines
28 Mar 11
I was surprised too when I learned there were a lot of people who are against the bill. When I first heard about it, it sounded really beneficial to filipino families and to dealing with our population growth and poverty. Probably a lot of people just wouldn't want to pay additional taxes for something they FEEL they don't need. Personally I like it because it would guarantee the health of female workers especially the pregnant women. I would support it. :)
@murkie (1103)
• Philippines
29 Mar 11
well, each each has his/her opinion on anything. you can't see the same things as the next person sees. or the next person does not see the same thing that you see. or both.
but it's just nice to have a stand on certain issues. yes. i've read that this bill supports programs for the labor force, especially on women.
@wadabski (761)
• Philippines
29 Mar 11
I stand with the RH bill, due to the fact that we are facing over population and it is a good idea to cut down on new born. An issue of unemployment rate going sky high is another problem in relation to poop population control which in turn have move poverty. Responsibility should always be reinforced to couple that they should only make what they can feed. Thant is my own point of view anyway.
@craziestqueenever (1819)
• Philippines
28 Mar 11
I do believe that there is a separation between the state and the church. There is always a contradicting side in each one. Basically, the Church do have it's own point while the Congress do have it's own point too. I go for the one who save lives.
@murkie (1103)
• Philippines
29 Mar 11
i'm not so sure if this separation thing is a valid argument. i think that this separation is more applicable to the government than to the church. meaning, that the government could not support any specific religion.
and when you say "the one who saves lives", meaning save lives of an infant or save lives of filipinos as a whole?
