#pro rh

First of all, we are not pulling our opinions from thin air. Our stand is based upon the truth.

We are thinking for ourselves. Instead of believing what the media has been spoon-feeding us, we actually read the bill and made our own decisions from there. After doing further research and actually thinking about it, this is where we stand: on the side of truth. 

All day! All day long I was seeing Rosa Hernandez's crying face. Her 16-year old daughter, a leukemia patient, died from pregnancy because the doctor would not put her under chemotherapy (you'll get it, chemo messing up the baby, and the girl getting all the shit). The thing is, before her daughter died, Rosa pleaded that the baby be aborted because her daughter's life is at stake.

Why can't the world legalize abortion? Are we fighting for our future? Or are we just fighting for the church's future?

Keep abortion legal. That's all we're asking for. With abortion illegal, it still happens. And the danger? It's unsafe and it's not regulated.

Abortion is illegal in the Philippines. There are no exceptions under the law. You could be one of those who gave birth to their child on an impoverished operating table of a so-called “tertiary hospital” gushing in chunks of blood. You could be a 12-year old mother who still tries to hide the unwanted pregnancy even when your foot is about to be buried six feet under, with true contractions starting to grip your life, thinking solely that it was your fault.

But those who condemn the Reproductive Health bill couldn’t picture out the scenario. The Catholic minions point to these women’s culpability. But they don’t understand what these women are going through because they don’t have a family to call their "own."

According to the World Health Organization, from the 2 million plus live births alone, some 300,000 maternal complications occur yearly, a serious matter enough to hospitalize women or worse, kill them. This is 7 times the DOH’s annual count for TB, 19 times for heart diseases, and 20 times for malaria in women. As a result, more than 11 women die needlessly and helplessly each day.

Is this what we want to see?

NO. Simply because the Philippines is a country dominated by Catholics, and they want to see a religious change where their only defense against everything is their faith. But figures don’t lie. Those 11 women who die each day could have seen and enjoyed life longer, with integrity and justice over their death. They could have reared their children well and taught them how to play with the Earth but they were helplessly and unfortunately sentenced to death. It is simply because they were not armed with knowledge on how to prevent maternal complications, or even moreso, they were not armed about family planning and reproductive health in the first place.

And there came this bill known as “The Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2011” or more popularly known as the Reproductive Health Bill.

This is a bill that aims to guarantee universal access to methods and information on birth control and maternal care. A bill that will preserve the quality of human life. A bill that only wants to help the Filipino men and women, irrespective of where they belong, irrespective of their beliefs in life without any bias.

Ladies and gentlemen, the RH bill is not just about giving out condoms for free. This is not just about pills and IUDs. This is also about teaching responsible parenthood, offering not just the artificial family planning methods but also the natural ones. And this is a fact neglected by those against the RH bill. Is this what you call suppression of their freedom to choose? No.

Those who condemn this bill say that it is not a necessity to pass this bill because the data show that the Philippines is not overpopulated and that overpopulation is one of the many things that a pro-RH like me only points out as a factor to pursue such bill.

But let me take positively how they reacted.

It is a good thing that they clarified this matter. It is a soothing fact that we are not yet overpopulated, but maybe, just densely occupied. But the thing is, this overwhelming trivia will pave way for an alarming situation, that as the clock continuously strikes its hands, overpopulation will definitely become a reality. That in no time, what they claim as an underpopulated Philippines will surely hit the mark. And this is something more alarming than cases of the ecclesiastical bodies abusing their religious rights and authority.

But this could be prevented. How? By passing the RH Bill that suggests how adequate number of skilled birth attendants and prompt referral to hospitals with emergency obstetric care are proven life-saving solutions to maternal complications, where women who wish to stop childbearing has family planning (FP) as the best preventive measure. And this will all lead to the maintenance of an underpopulated nation.

The necessity of passing this bill can also be rooted from the fact that these days, unwanted pregnancy is ubiquitous. With as young as a 12 year old girl who still needs a motherly care and guidance, she herself has also become a mother of her own. This is not the youth whom Rizal called as the hope of the nation. This is just a proof of how early the minds of our “hopefuls” have become corrupted by malicious intent. But we cannot blame them.

It has to be understood. They are still in a period where they are finding their identities. Curiosity grips their minds. They tend to play fire which results in an unwanted pregnancy. Unwanted because the pregnancy is simply not intended. Unwanted because it is not what they thought it would be.

What about the parents who have the responsibility to look after them beforehand? They are even misguided, playing their own bonfire.

Fortunate as they can be considered if the innocent being will not be terminated or if their little mothers have the substantial courage to continue what she thought could be wrong.

However, unintended pregnancies precede almost all induced abortions. That is why the bill offers an opportunity for these children to learn the reproductive health through sex education that will be incorporated in the Grade 6’s and high school’s curriculum.

Ladies and gentlemen, sex education is not about the “corruption” of children’s minds. It is actually presenting them the reality of what parents only describe as the birds and the bees, something for these innocent children to be more curious about.

And just like what columnist Conrado de Quiros said, “Sex education is not about sex. It is about the education.”