Everything about : RH Bill ( Reproductive Health Bill)

[mannyamador]

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then what about Pres. Gloria actually using birth control pills when she was pregnant? did it make her a lesser Catholic somehow as u described?

I think so. She doesn't even seem much of as practicing Catholic now (stealing the election, etc.). Of course, you can probably see I'm not a GMA fan. That's another long topic though.

The issue of HB 5043 is not really about whether one is a catholic or not, though. HB 5043 is not made wrong simply because the Church says it is. Actually the Church says it's wrong because it is wrong. It would be wrong whether or not the Church said anything. One doesn't have to be a Catholic to agree. In fact, I know of a totally non-Catholic (he's an atheist) who is very much against the bill. That's interesting in itself for me.

'Hope we can still agree to disagree...

Of course. I am willing to compromise too, although it makes me very uncomfortable. But that's in the nature of some compromises.

[giddyboy]

Originally Posted by giddyboy:

then what about Pres. Gloria actually using birth control pills when she was pregnant? did it make her a lesser Catholic somehow as u described?

I think so. She doesn't even seem much of as practicing Catholic now (stealing the election, etc.). Of course, you can probably see I'm not a GMA fan. That's another long topic though.

well i'm not also a fan of GMA. but IMHO, u r making some kind of religious discrimination here. To discriminate is to make a distinction.

if assuming we take away the election scandal issue (to which it is still hearsay) and focusing on her being what kind of a Catholic she is, it seems u r making a distinction.

Discrimination on the basis of such grounds as subcultural preference is also common.

Generally, the aggrieved person or group is considered by the discriminator as inferior to others. (wikipedia)

Even in Reproductive Rights there is this thing about The Right to Equality and to be Free from all Forms of Discrimination. All persons are born equal. No person should be discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, color, poverty, *** or sexual orientation, marital status, family position, physical or mental disability, age, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth of other status.

well, correct me lang if i'm wrong...

as i've said previously, let's be careful in distinguishing people as inferior by calling them "LESSER CATHOLICS". coz the people whom u r trying to convince to your way of thinking could be the very people you are offending too...

[unsay_ngalan_nimo]

wala pa gyud mo nahuman?

asus!

[Raikage]

Confirmed na dyud ko, that I am against the Bill, I used to have second thoughts but now, I am really against it. It has a hidden agenda which is against life and the family!

[flanker]

hahahah.... unsa man hidden agenda ani bro Raikage? pls enlighten us...

[saida]

We are already over populated, I think the RC Church should instead assist our government in implementing population control

[T0xic]

kakita ba mo ug unsay na ang nahitabo karun sa atong food supply? hinay hinay na nahurot ang mga places nga dapat unta naay rice fields etc etc. what will happen if ang population mu increase? ang food supply kulangon nasad, and since gamay nalang ang food, and prices will go up. unsaon naman pag kaun sa tawo? in the mean time, control the population! nganung manganak man if dili ra man diay gihapon makapakaun. luoy kaayo mga bata, mamatay ra gihapon sa gutom. so nganung ipanganak pa man nga mamatay ra man diay gihapon. pa antusun lang gyud nato mga bata para lang gyud dili "makasala". mas dako nga sala ug mag sige ta panganak unya way kaun atong mga anak....the church is teaching us to respect human life, respect ba ang tawag nato if atong mga anak way kaun?

[giddyboy]

while it is already too exhausting to argue about the RH Bill at this point in time, meaning, all points from all sides have been taken up lengthily in this thread, it is still important to cite some facts:

In 2008 (Phils),

(1) 54 per cent of 3.4 million pregnancies are unwanted. Such unwanted pregnancies resulted in 560,000 induced abortions.

(2) While women’s wanted fertility is 3.8 per cent, actual fertility stood at 5.9 per cent, with a third of all births having short spacing.

(3) Meanwhile 45 per cent of people of reproductive age had unmet needs in terms of pills, intra-uterine device and other reproductive health information and services. Similarly, more than 23 per cent of young people, ages 15 to 24, have had early sexual intercourse but lacked access to reproductive health information and services.

“These data only shows the insufficient protection against the risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The poor have been asking for a reproductive health policy since 1968.” ~ UP Population Institute Prof. Josefina Cabigon

DENR is headed by Lito Atienza, Manila’s former mayor who imposed natural family planning, banning contraceptives and other reproductive health services for eight years. He is a close ally of the Catholic Church. Today, a class suit against him (Atienza) is pending as the policy has grossly affected the city’s residents, 70 per cent living below the poverty. Moreover, Manila has become a case for political will for reproductive health as well as a demystification of the Catholic Church’s political power.

As of 2008, 67 out of 122 local chief executives have created reproductive health policies and programmes. Sixty-four of them are using their own budgets. Lagman shared, “It is a shame that the national government is lagging behind local government units in reproductive health policies. In any case, it is still better to have a national and comprehensive law. Whatever the idiosyncracies of local government officials are, there will always be reproductive health policies and programmes.”

source: isiswomen.org

[mannyamador]

Some more facts:

Increased contraceptive usage DOES NOT lessen the demand for abortion. It does the very opposite. Contraceptive usage INCREASES the demand for abortion.

• Increased access to contraception not linked to decrease in numbers of unplanned pregnancies, abortions
  http://www.news-medical.net/?id=20761
  
  
• Fact Sheet: Greater Access to Contraception Does Not Reduce Abortions
  http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/...heet0207.shtml
  
  
• The Role of Contraception in Increasing Abortion
  http://www.noroomforcontraception.co...d-Abortion.htm
  
  
• Increased access to contraception not linked to decrease in numbers of unplanned pregnancies, abortions
  http://www.news-medical.net/?id=20761
  
  
• Contraception - It’s time to stop ducking the issue
  http://www.noroomforcontraception.co...t/view/106/57/

By the way, the case against Atienza was THROWN OUT of court. This is clearly a case of of RH fanatics trying to twist the law to suit their foreign-funded agenda, which they are sticking up the rear-ends of Filipinos. The courts saw this and tossed the case out.

Philippines Court Rejects Claims of New York Based Pro-Abortion Group
http://www.c-fam.org/publications/id.731/pub_detail.asp
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082811.html

(NEW YORK – C-FAM) The Philippine Court of Appeals recently rejected claims made by a radical pro-abortion group based in New York. The court dismissed an effort seeking to overturn an executive order promoting natural family planning. The petition was filed earlier this year by a group of Manila residents who relied heavily on legal advice and material from the international pro-abortion litigation group, the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR).

@flanker

The hidden agenda was exposed here some time ago. Perhaps you chose to ignore it again. Please read:

Grand deception
A LAW EACH DAY (Keeps Trouble Away)
By Jose C. Sison Updated December 05, 2008
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=421246

Neither could there be any issue as to the meaning of conception or when human life begins. Human embryologists are one in declaring that the life of the new individual human being begins with fertilization or the fusion of the egg and the sperm which is also the beginning of human pregnancy. This is more of a scientific truth than a religious dogma. Hence our Constitution itself mandates that the State “shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception” (Article II Section 12).

Some foreign groups however, represented by PLCPD. a local NGO housed in Congress which is the chief architect of the RH bill now sponsored by some of our legislators in the Lower House, are corrupting this scientific fact because chemical contraceptives actually do not prevent the sperm from penetrating and fertilizing the ovum but only prevent the newly fertilized egg from implanting itself in the uterus. Hence since the interference of these contraceptives occurs after conception, they corrupted the meaning of conception and equate it with the time of implantation so that their use could not be considered abortion (Rosenfeld-“Second Genesis”).

[giddyboy]

Philippines Family Planning Bill Challenges Catholic Influence On Reproductive Health
Article Date: 12 Mar 2009 - 4:00 PDT

A "ground-breaking" bill in the Philippines that would provide government-funded family planning services has reached the House floor for debate, a development that supporters of the bill say "shows that the political clout of the Roman Catholic Church is on the wane" in the country, the Christian Science Monitor reports. According to the Monitor, the Catholic Church's policy against the use of contraceptives has "long held sway" in the Philippines, where about 81% of the country's 96 million residents are Catholic. Although passage of the bill -- which would provide family planning, contraceptives and *** education -- is not guaranteed, its current position in the House is the "furthest any such draft legislation has ever reached," the Monitor reports. Ramon San Pascual, director of the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development Foundation, said that the "fact that this bill has gotten so much momentum indicates that politicians are no longer scared by the church's threats. Some cultural change is taking place."

The Catholic Church only supports "natural" birth control, such as avoiding *** on the most fertile days of a woman's cycle. The church views artificial contraception as immoral and has "long prevented any efforts" for government funding for such methods, the Monitor reports. A Pulse Asia poll conducted in the fall of 2008 found that 63% of respondents support the bill and that only 8% percent opposed it, with the remaining undecided on the issue. Edcel Lagman, the bill's key sponsor in the House, said the "influence of the Catholic Church has steadily weakened, just like in other countries." He said, "People are now more independent in their attitudes and their beliefs, and the ultraconservatism of the church doesn't jibe with the progressive ideas of the people."

full article:
Philippines Family Planning Bill Challenges Catholic Influence On Reproductive Health

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More Filipinos question birth-control taboo

...About 81 percent of the Philippines' 96 million people are Catholics. In theory, they're bound to obey church leaders' authority. But a Pulse Asia poll conducted last fall found that 63 percent support the reproductive health bill, with 8 percent opposing (the rest were undecided).

In the Philippines, the church has long had its way on issues by threatening to withdraw electoral support from candidates. But now, politicians and Catholic laypeople are increasingly willing to buck the church leadership...

...The bill received support from a surprising quarter last fall: 69 professors at the prestigious Roman Catholic Ateneo de Manila University broke with their own church to sign an unusual open letter backing the legislation.

In an interview in December, two of the professors said the bill would put the Philippines in line with other predominantly Roman Catholic countries, including Italy, Ireland, and Mexico.

"We're the last Catholic country that hasn't allowed contraceptives and family planning of all kinds, systematically," said Mary Racelis, who is in the department of sociology and anthropology.

"What's happening in our country is that women go for abortions because they don't have access to forms of contraception," added Marita Castro Guevara, from the department of interdisciplinary studies.

...Similar efforts at a more progressive, national family-planning policy have been tried since the early 1990s. But this time, activists have garnered far broader support from "stakeholders," says Mr. San Pascual. For example, industry groups such as the Employers Confederation of the Philippines are now key backers. "They see their employees having many children affecting productivity in the workplace, and exacting heavy costs," San Pascual says.

And the timing is better. Last year, the bill was one of many sidelined by all-consuming impeachment motions against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. For now, all's quiet on that front....

source:
More Filipinos question birth-control taboo | csmonitor.com