What's wrong with HB 3773? A LOT!!! (New Online Petitions added!)

[tolstoi]

@Gareb..do you think u can still post in istorya today if your mother [9 months before u were born] decided to take pills, IUD or any contraceptions??..or worst case scenario, she aborted U during the course of her pregnancy...and do u think a great man a.k.a GAREB will exist as of the moment?..the apparent answer would be NO!

now come to think of it..how many shattered hopes and dreams shall be lost to limbo whenever this Bill will be push thru in congress....

the government keeps saying that the Phil is overpopulated and is the main cause of poverty when basically the real issue here is CORRUPTION! CORRUPTION! CORRUPTION!..no more no less....

[darkwing]

I think we are falling into the goverment's trap of debating/fighting over this bill instead of focusing on more matters like fighting corruption,crime etc...

[gareb]

if indeed the people who insist that the pill, IUD's and hormonal injectable are "abortifacients" then it is clear that they are barking at the wrong House Bill. they should be lobbying to amend the current anti-abortion laws in the country.

HB3773 makes absolutely no mention of curtailing abortifacients at all. If HB3773 really was against abortion, it should explicitly BAN the IUD, the Pill, Depo-Provera, and other Progesteone-only-pills and other oral contraceptives. Buit it DOESN'T.

nor does it mention "coercing people" to use IUD's or pills. simply because this is not a bill about distinguishing contraceptives and abortifacients. this is a bill about family planning and population control. the issue on what is allowed and what is not allowed is clear enough when it referred to the anti-abortion laws that we have. if someone has issues on what kind of population and birth control would be allowed, then HB3773 conveniently points the finger to the anti-abortion laws.

So the bill is still UNCONSTITUTIONAL Your argument is invalid.

not even close. the usage of such birth control methods may be unconstitutional but the bill simply is not. you confuse the bill, thinking that it has a direct association with these "abortifacients".

the issue on abortifacients may be a sound argument, in my opinion, but it is just out of place. but it is not a clean cut argument. the fertilization vs. implantation definition of the start of pregnancy is still a question that cannot be settled all to quickly. i believe there is a separate thread for this.

There is lip service to those "in need", but the bottom line is that there is preference for those with 2 children or less. Given that resources for educational grants is limited, those with more children will be discriminated against. It is disingenious and dishonest to pretend to be ignorant of the reality on the ground.

of course, those who are against population control would cry discrimination against large families when incentives are given to families with only 2 children; the same way small families cry discrimination at income tax deductions based on how many children a couple has - something that clearly favors large families.

that is why it is called an 'incentive' - to encourage couples to have only 2 children. this rises above sectoral issues because it concerns us all. and the issue of population (which you guys impressively find in apple pie order) is something that concerns us all and must take precedence over everything.

but this does not callously ignores the "reality on the ground" as you would have it. preference does not mean exclusivity. more so in this case when "financial need" and "academic aptitude" is considered.

but still, it would not surprise me to hear that you will not agree that this is an "incentive" as you are still against population control.

Frantic doomsaying will not erase the fact that the "damage" you refer to is NOT caused by "overpopulation" but by the other factors I've mentioned.

it is as if you acknowledge that a family of 4 needs exactly the same amount of resources as a family of 12. simplistic? yes.

how about a global population of 2 billion in the 1950's and 6.1 billion in 2000? ever thought of the environmental impact, and the subsequent ramifications to small scale semi-subsistent villages, as well as agricultural industries? carbon dioxide emissions? waste material?

curiously, the Catholic Church seems to agree with the problem of overpopulation, though of course it advocates another method for preventing pregnancy.

hopefully no more i-told-you-so's when catastrophes arrive.

The real causes of poverty can be complex, but greed, mismanageement, and corruption are not simplistic issues either as you like to paint them.

actually they are simplistic causes. you cannot eliminate bureaucratic greed and corruption simply because there exists no means of making them(the people who manage it) accountable for anything. laws? who makes them? who enforces them? the power elite dominate and there is nothing that can threaten them except the people from below. 'anti-corruption drives' are nothing but palliatives and icing on a rotten and hopelessly putrid cake.

there is no positive evidence whatosever that "overpopulation" CAUSES poverty Many demographers, economists, and historians have already pointed this out. Most of them are quite in agreement that poverty is more likely caused by some form of poor governance or man-made disturbance.

you could not have said it any better, except that it lacks few significant tidbits that without, perverts the whole picture.

overpopulation is NOT the cause of poverty; not just poor governance (which is a symptom by itself), but social stratification that causes it. overpopulation perpetuates poverty. it makes existing poverty worse.

therefore, it should be controlled if we do not want poverty to worsen. but this simplistic solution is not what we need if we want to combat poverty. this is just a part of it.

[gareb]

tolstoi:

for all intents and purposes, i am apalled yet amused at how you could you use ad hominems in issues as these and still have the room to flatter. both are not needed, by the way.

again, let me reiterate that this bill is not about aborting babies, nor does it come close to permitting killing unborn humans. the paranoia that people from the dissenting side is infectious only to those who do not read and understand fully what HB3773 is all about.

but just to be on the whimsical side of things...

how many shattered hopes and dreams shall be lost to limbo

ok lang shattered na bitaw. hehehe.

do you think u can still post in istorya today if your mother [9 months before u were born] decided to take pills

i am glad i am not that foolish to answer "yes". but can something that *did not* push through (my life as you want it) really affect you if it indeed did not? it is easy to commit hindsight bias when you look at the past, you know.

the government keeps saying that the Phil is overpopulated and is the main cause of poverty when basically the real issue here is CORRUPTION! CORRUPTION! CORRUPTION!..no more no less....

you are both right and wrong at the same time. two opposite sides of the pole, but the same pole. two blind men groping at the same elephant, picturing two different things. a dog chasing its own tail.

[tolstoi]

For all intents and purposes, i am apalled yet amused at how you could you use ad hominems in issues as these

I'm not appealing to any personal considerations here..all im stretching out is that our mother earth [for all the billions of planets in the universe] is i think the only place habitable to all living things - and that includes human beings who are endowed with almost perfect physical attributes, attributes so UNIQUE that it can't be found anywhere else in outer space. By all means we should not hamper the future individuals to have a chance to experience living in this unique world. Overpopulation is way out of context if you will just statistically consider the available land masses of the earth and compare it to the total number of people in the planet. Believe it or not, gathering all the 6 billions of people in the world can still happily live in China!, provided that all the housings will be a 20 story condos. Now who said that earth is overpopulated

In the case of "overpopulation is the cause of poverty" as all cynics preached, is not true. If the government could not properly channel the resources of the country to its citizens then poverty arises. When the means of income is concentrated in the urban area, the people in the rurals will customarily flocks to that area to have a means of living, therefore there is an unequal population density distribution. And this what the cynics termed as overpopulation.

If only our congressmen utilizes their respective pork barrels for the development of its constituent and not for the plumping of their PURSES then the livelihood of our people will reach out to the rural areas and thus decongest the urban areas in the process....$0.02

[darkwing]

Overpopulation is one cause of poverty, not the SOLE cause.

[mannyamador]

Gareb wrote:

if indeed the people who insist that the pill, IUD's and hormonal injectable are "abortifacients" then it is clear that they are barking at the wrong House Bill. they should be lobbying to amend the current anti-abortion laws in the country

That's an idea. But this bill also allows abortifacients. We have to fight this idiocy where it surfaces.

Good laws must take into account what is knwon at the time and what is likely to be known if poossible. HB3773 makes no distinction between pure contraceptives and abortifacients in the LETTER of the law, But that is because the authors know fully well that if it did, the bill would be inutile. The refernece papers used during the bill's deliberations and those of its predecessors (HB4110, etc.) clearly show that there was total disregard for this even though the issue had been raised before. In fact, they continued to make references to international documents where "reproductive health" clearly incuded "access to abortion". NO WONDER they avoid any distinction between abortifacients and pure contraceptivces. They want to sneak it in.

the issue on abortifacients may be a sound argument, in my opinion, but it is just out of place. but it is not a clean cut argument. the fertilization vs. implantation definition of the start of pregnancy is still a question that cannot be settled all to quickly.

It may not be clear to you, but is VERY CLEAR in the Philippine Constitution. it clearly states that life beginsat conception and that such life is to be protected.

the same way small families cry discrimination at income tax deductions based on how many children a couple has - something that clearly favors large families.

Not if the deductions are based on the NUMBER of children. Small families spend less so they get less deductions. There is no discrimination. But the bill removes financial assistance for families with over two children even though they probably need it. There is no proportionality. Now that is clearly discrimination.

how about a global population of 2 billion in the 1950's and 6.1 billion in 2000? ever thought of the environmental impact, and the subsequent ramifications to small scale semi-subsistent villages, as well as agricultural industries? carbon dioxide emissions? waste material?

How about the fact that such population growth has not really had much impact at all? The world's resources are not anywhere cloise to being exhausted by population grwoth Pollution is not necessarily a product of population growth either, but of greed and mismanagement. The entire "population explosion" theory is already widely recognized as being a total myth.

In its "Global Population Profile: 2002", the U.S. Census Bureau noted that global population growth peaked over a decade ago, and that birth rates are falling at an alarming rate, one that is unprecedented in human history.

A recent paper released by members of the University of Asia and the Pacific School of Economics (whose members included Emilio T. Antonio, Ronilo Balbieran, Enrico Basilio, Jovi Dacanay, Roberto de Vera, Stephen Huang, Maia Tyche King, Winston Stan Padojinog, Cherrylyn Rodolfo, Kimberly San Agustin, Leandro Tan, Cid Terosa, Peter Lee U, and Bernardo M. Villegas) stated flatly that there is no real connection between poverty and "overpopulation":

"... we find that available statistics and scientific studies do not support the claim that "too many people" means "more poor people."

Bad governance and bad economic policies, not a large, fast-growing population, are the real causes of poverty. More specifically, we have found that:

[list]* Poverty remains unaffected or even decreases in a larger or increasing
population. Population growth has little or no direct effect on per capita GDP growth.
Thus, there is no basis for a policy that aims to reduce population growth to raise per
capita GDP growth.[/list:u]

[list]*Poverty is usually caused by poor governance and inappropriate and badly
implemented economic policies -- which leads to corruption, poor tax collections,
lack of education and roads, lack of irrigation systems -- instead of a large and
increasing population."[/list:u]

Mercy Suleik, in the article "Population Growth: Resurrecting An Old Bogey", which appeared in the September 2003 issue of FINEX Digest (the offical publication of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines), wrote:

"The perception that the Philippines has a population problem, and that population growth eats up our economic growth, has also been shown to be an empty argument, as studies have shown a rapid decline in the total fetility Rate (TFR) of women or the total number of births per woman -- it has actually dropped to 2.93 from 7.29 births per woman 50 years ago. The TFR required for population to replace itself is 2.1 births per woman -- one child to replace herself, another to replace the father of her baby, and an additional 0.1 for babies who do not make it to reproductive stage. In fact, the latest data from the UN Population Division show that the present annual population growth of the Philippines is only 1.61% versus 3.06 50 years ago.

The US-based National Center for Policy Analysis also had a smiliar view in "Overpopulation Myths" (http://www.ncpa.org/pd/pdint21.html) where it noted that:

"It is not a question of the human population outstripping resources, since food production continues to exceed population growth and non-renewable resources become more plentiful each year as new sources are found.

The bootomline: you're arguments for population comntrol have no sound scientific or economic basis whatoever. It is all part of a myth that you have swallowed hook, line, and sinkler.[list][/list:u]

[mannyamador]

The Public Health Implications of Population Control
by Ligaya B. Anacta-Acosta D.M.
(A Speech delivered during the Press Conference of Human Life International – Asia 14 March 2005 Sulo Hotel, Quezon City)

http://www.cbcponline.net/v3/index.p...view&ANN_id=38

First of all, I must admit to you that I was an avid promoter of contraceptives in the past. Being from the Department of Health, that was part of the programs we were promoting – I must say, a very big part, because there was and still is, a lot of money for Family Planning – Artificial Family Planning. Early last year, however, I was designated as Regional Program Manager for Natural Family Planning (NFP) for Eastern Visayas. I then attended two trainings in Manila: one conducted by the Couples for Christ, which was then contracted by DOH for the purpose, because as the Secretary of Health admitted during that time, DOH has no technology for NFP; and the other, conducted by no less than Mercedes Arzu-Wilson, President of the Family of the Americas Foundation based in the United States. That started a change in my paradigms. It changed my life forever! This was because; the same trainings exposed me to the horrible side effects of contraception. They gave us video materials, which showed very clearly the harm contraceptives do to the body, and the fact that they are abortifacients.

For a long time, we have been told that contraceptives prevent conception. There, it became very clear to me, that IUDs work essentially as an abortifacient – it does not prevent conception, but it causes constant inflammation and infection in the uterus, thus, the newly conceived baby, cannot implant in that kind of environment. No wonder then that the most common side effect suffered by IUD users is severe menstrual bleeding. As our trainer said emphatically, that is not ordinary blood that is already a baby being aborted, what is called as micro-abortion. For pills and depo-provera, the video (taken by electronic microscope), showed that it makes the endometrial lining and uterus dry and barren like a desert, thus, the newly conceived baby cannot implant in that kind of environment.

After my trainings in Manila, I conducted 10 batches of trainings for more than 300 midwives, nurses, doctors, and parish pastoral workers. After watching the video entitled “Natural vs. Artificial� produced by the Family of the Americas Foundation, participants came one by one to the front not only crying but also practically sobbing, to testify that indeed all these things were happening to them and their clients. I heard very dramatic testimonies of deaths (particularly due to pills and IUDs); ailments (most common of which was high blood pressure, ovarian cysts, and cancers due to pills, and pelvic inflammatory diseases and infections brought about by IUDs); and couples and families being drawn apart by contraceptives and sterilization, which brought about depression and reduction in libido. Some women using the pills also reported mood disorder. Health workers even shared, without my asking, the fact that tetanus toxoid immunization was indeed causing abortions. I was shocked… I remembered that during the height of the tetanus toxoid controversy when Flavier first ran for senator, I was constantly on radio and TV, defending it as just an election issue. I shuddered, as I must admit to you that I was Flavier’s Campaign Manager in Region 8, when he first ran for senator. Today, I hear a lot of testimonies of women two months pregnant, four months pregnant, aborting, after having been injected with tetanus toxoid. I also know and hear a lot of testimonies of women who can no longer achieve pregnancy, because they had themselves injected with tetanus toxoid when they were still single. As the health workers themselves testified, when they receive complaints regarding the horrible side effects, they always tell their clients it has nothing to do with contraceptives.

I had a lot of sleepless nights. I constantly gave feedbacks of my horrible findings, to the Secretary of Health, and to my Regional Director in Region 8, but they didn’t seem to care. It seemed they were more concerned of our targets rather than the health of our people! I went into a research. I read a lot of books and materials, and I cried at my findings – the Philippines since 1973 has been a human laboratory for population control – in other words, we had been guinea pigs for a long time. I also found that contraceptives were being promoted as “a condition for receiving foreign aid, which tends to quiet the objections�, as Jacqueline Kasun, an American Economist says, in her book The War Against Population. Steven Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute based in the U.S., says in his article entitled “Protecting the Culture of Life in the Philippines�, published in Laywitness (January-February 2004 issue), “The Philippines was one of a dozen countries named in a secret 1974 U.S. National Security Council Memorandum (NSSM 200) which made population control a weapon in the Cold War. For many decades, we have been shipping container loads of abortifacient contraceptives to the Archipelago, and urging the government in Manila to impose targets and quotas for their use on the people.� I read NSSM 200, and I was horrified to realize that what was contained there was happening in the government, particularly in my own Department of Health. Steven Mosher also said in his article under the sub-title A History of Abuse: “In 1996, PRI first exposed USAID’s support of coercive population control in the Philippines. USAID, with the Philippine Department of Health, “accelerated� family planning programs. An elaborate system of bribes and quotas for family planning “acceptors� was established. USAID funds were disbursed when local governments fulfilled these quotas. In order to fulfill quotas, and reduce the number of Filipino Catholic babies being born, the government coerced innocent women in accepting contraception or sterilization.� Having been with DOH for more than 28 years, I knew very well this was happening.

I also got hold of a copy of the book Conspiracy Against Life, Evangelium Vitae’s Conclusive Evidence, and I read with disgust, the very arrogant speech of Flavier delivered in Cairo in 1994, which makes me ashamed he’s a Filipino. In that speech he details how he used NGOs, and even CARE Philippines for massive and deceptive distribution of contraceptives throughout the country. He even mentions in that speech how he persuaded hospitals to promote contraceptives, “If they don’t follow directions, I do not give them a license!� he boasted. On other government agencies, he said, “I made sure that the other departments of the government were in the stream of things because I am in the Department of Health. We’re natural for family planning but if we don’t use all the other departments – labor, defense, education, environment, we’ve missed the point. Why? Because each one of them have their own clientele that are really made to order. What do I mean, Environment? (I mean) they have all the foresters that are working with the people who are now encroaching on the mountains because of sheer population explosion on the plains and so they are very eager to work with us. Militaries – Oh what a wonderful group to work with! Why? They also have gentle persuasion. When they say use condoms and people don’t, they shoot them! Wow!�

On local governments, he said, “…If local governments have a population officer, they get one point, a contraceptive system in place, one point; a training system, one point; IEC, one point; clinics in place, one point. If your rate of contraception users is so much, you get one point more, you get six points, and I give you a car….�

Flavier in that speech confirmed the system of deception and corruption in the public health system, as well as in the entire government structure, with contraceptives and population control.

As I dug deeper, I also found with disgust how much money is given to the Philippines for this program. In this book Conspiracy Against Life (page 95), it also says, “What many do not know also is that there is an annual budget of US$144 million for population control used primarily in media, congress, and senate affairs to help change people’s views regarding contraception and Family Planning…� And that amount was in 1994 yet. Today, that has even increased! The population controllers know too well that Filipinos can be bribed! In fact, we have recently been constantly hugging the headlines – that the Philippines is the number 2 most corrupt nation in the world, second to Indonesia. As they say, in India, corruption is under the table, in Indonesia, it’s over the table, in the Philippines – including the table!

I kept quiet for a long time. I knew too well that being an insider, and a spokesperson at that for the Department of Health, I would cause a scandal if I made an expose. The last straw however was “Ligtas Buntis!� I found it so deceptive, highly immoral, and so revolting to the conscience – the worst corruption ever, as it is not only corruption of money, but corruption of human lives! “Ligtas Buntis� is a masked massive population control program, targeting men and women 15 years old and above – regardless of marital status! I even found it very unusual that we just had our orientation on the third Monday of January this year, and we were to start implementation already on February 1. Even the instructions contained in the number 1 principle of the program – privacy and confidentiality, that we had to keep the records strictly confidential was to me highly questionable. I also felt nauseated with their proud announcement that for this program we were partnering with Marie Stopes, an agency DOH did not even give accreditation in the past to, because it knows too well it is into abortion - in the guise of menstrual and/or fertility regulation. Very deceptively titled, Ligtas Buntis is nothing but the provision of contraceptives and sterilization services house to house! It is apparent that DOH now considers pregnancy a disease, just like Tigdas and Polio among others. When I objected, my Director told me “Separate your morality and your work!� - a statement she has been repeatedly telling me, since the past year. No wonder then that our country is in disarray, because we throw morality down the drain! I could not accept it – never! My children are within the target age groups, and I can never permit them to be corrupted. In fact when I told my children about this, they all chorused,� Mom, that’s so immoral, 15 years old are not even of legal age yet!� Well probably its true that there is now a high rate of teenage pregnancy and premarital ***. But shall we solve a wrong with another wrong? Even the young adults I have addressed to in so many schools express their disgust of this. As Christopher O. Tyrell, President of the American Collegians for Life, says, “Young adults are offended by the idea that we cannot control ourselves. Those that believe this have no hope for us or our future. They believe we are slaves to our instincts, and we reject that as anti-youth. Chastity is the only pro-youth lifestyle. Those who believe in us, including parents, must promote and live by it.� As Mercedes Arzu-Wilson says in her very beautiful book, Love and the Family, Parents should be leaders and teachers, and “time must be set aside to discuss love, life and family matters with your children.� However, according to Douglas R. Scott, President, Life Decisions International, “One critical problem facing many of today’s youth is that their parents have willingly accepted the fallacy that they cannot and will not adequately teach their children about sexual matters. This has allowed the state and its agents… to fill the void - all to the detriment of children.� Scott also said, “So long as parents are willing to place their careers and goals ahead of the very lives of their children, the world will become an increasingly hostile and sad place in which to live.�

I never thought that at my age I would already be saying goodbye to government service. However, I thought I have only one life to live, so if I could offer this one life to make a difference in this world, so be it. I risked my work, my life, my family, but I have told my children, if mama will die, please continue the battle – the good fight of faith. I am grateful to God for giving me strength and joy in the midst of grave persecutions – all in the splendor of truth! I am strengthened too by the support of the church particularly the Archdiocese of Palo, headed by His Excellency, Archbishop Pedro Dean, and the priests of Sto. Nino Parish in Tacloban, headed by Msgr. Bernardo Pantin. We don’t have the ready financial resources to carry all the things we have to do, but everyday, we trust that our Father in heaven will provide for our gasoline and other needs – because after all He is the owner of heaven and earth! I also thank immensely Human Life International for giving me all the opportunities to share the truth – despite the fact that I considered them mortal enemies in the past. We belonged then to exactly opposite sides.

DOH tries so hard in telling people that contraceptives are safe and that it is not true that they are abortifacients. But I have a copy of their bible, the book, The Essentials of Contraceptive Technology, A Handbook for Clinic Staff, published by the Johns Hopkins Population Information Program (March 2003), funded by USAID. That book details the possible side effects of each and every contraceptive and sterilization services. And even if that book makes the horrible side effects look normal in a very deceitful way, on page 12-4 for IUD, it says “Possibly could prevent egg from implanting in the wall of uterus.� Preventing implantation is synonymous to abortion! Let us not be deceived! You can also read in literatures accompanying pills that one of the side-effects is it prevents implantation! DOH is even trying to redefine human life to start from implantation rather than from conception, as we have known since time immemorial. But Article II, Section 12 of the Philippine Constitution under the Declaration of State Principles and Policies, guarantees the protection of the life of the mother and the unborn – from conception!

As I told the Secretary of Health when he called me last January (right after I was relieved as NFP Program Manager because of my defiant stand against contraceptives and population control), I now know exactly why despite spending billions of dollars over a period of more than 35 years, we only have 35% Contraceptive Prevalence Rate – it is because, I said, our product is intrinsically defective, that however hard we promote it, people don’t buy it, or if they were deceived into buying it, they either return it, or do not buy it anymore, because of the horrible side effects they experience.

The sad news however is, our men and women, who have been brainwashed into believing that we are overpopulated, and that too many people is causing our poverty, are forced to resort to sterilization – ligation for the women, and vasectomy for the men, not even knowing that it too has a lot of ill effects! In fact the Matching Grant Program (MGP) implemented by the Department of Health through a grant from the USAID funded Management Sciences for Health (MSH), is massively promoting vasectomy – no scalpel vasectomy as they call it. I’ve been thinking though that it may have been part of the sinister plot – that people will ultimately resort to sterilization, after jumping from one contraceptive to another, due to the many ill effects.

The formidable funds being given in a silver platter to the government as well as NGOs, by such known population controllers as USAID and UNFPA, is very sadly putting down the drain morality and values in public health. These agencies not only work through the Department of Health, but even directly with the Local Government Units. It would take a sense of spirituality and a strong sense of values to refuse this massive corruption – just like what Northern Samar through its Governor Raul Daza did. As Gov. Daza has repeatedly said, “Whatever the political cost, Northern Samar will always be a pro-life province… We shall always say no to contraceptives!� And indeed, they even refused the multi-million MGP grant! We need more Governor Dazas and Mayor Atienzas in this country, so once again, we will live by the values of our faith.

We are so proud we are Catholics – devout Catholics as even those promoting Contraceptives and sterilization would tell you… We are proud to be the only Catholic nation in the world. But let us re-examine our conscience especially now that we are in the Lenten season, are we really living by the values of our faith? As Scott and Kimberly Hahn says in their very beautiful book, Rome Sweet Home Our Journey to Catholicism, “The Trouble with us Catholics is we are like people eating in a restaurant, we are enjoying our meal, but yet we don’t know the ingredients, thus, we can not even share the recipe!� I was guilty of these before… Most of us Catholics are Catholics by convenience! We only believe those teachings that are in accord with our own beliefs, and discard those which are not. But you don’t really have to be a Catholic to say no to contraceptives and population control… Everyone - Catholics and non-Catholics alike will suffer the many ill effects of contraceptives, even long after you have stopped using them. One of their favorite lies is they examine the individual thoroughly before giving the contraceptives to avoid side effects. But as I have argued with my bosses at DOH – even if they examine you and finds you perfectly healthy, you will still get sick. It is precisely the ingestion of the pills or the introduction of the harmful mechanical devices like the IUD, which will make one sick. Remember that these are harmful artificial chemicals and foreign bodies that you are introducing into your own body. We are so concerned of pollution in the environment, shouldn’t we be more concerned about polluting our own bodies?

DOH people also always vow that they are pro-life, and that in fact one of the 4 principles of its Family Planning Program is Respect for Life. When you promote contraception, you can never call yourself pro-life – kaya nga tinawag na CONTRA-CEPTION – it is against conception – against the birth of human life.

DOH also very fondly argues that it is against abortion. But I have found in my research that the whole world knows that contraceptives are indeed abortifacients – except the Department of Health! Terribly sad indeed! I have also found that the Church statement that contraceptive mentality leads to abortion mentality is true… Because women who take contraceptives don’t like to have a child, when they do get pregnant (there is no contraceptive that is 100% effective!), it is very easy for them to go to an abortionist, or even do it themselves. The womb, which should be the safest place on earth, has become a tomb for countless unborn children. As Mother Teresa has said, “If we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?�

Obviously, there is a need to revisit and overhaul government priorities, particularly in its continuing stand for population control despite overwhelming evidence that there is no overpopulation! The government’s encroachment in the reproductive process, a most intimate area of private choice, has gone far indeed, to the extent of wanting to adopt a two-child policy and move on with the D.E.A.T.H. bills. The roots of the government’s family planning program, have dug deep with a tangle of branches entwined in public programs. The intricate complex of power and money fed by an annual flow of millions of dollars in grants, not only supports the population programs, but also finances the political pressures that ensure its continuance. The claim that the poor lack “access� to family planning services is vulnerable. If they lack “access� and want more birth control, why do government programs like “Ligtas Buntis� exerts such tremendous pressure? Why all the motivations and outreach, to the extent of going house to house? Why is there strenuous work to overcome what DOH itself describes as “resistance� to the service? Why do they go to the extent of harassing health workers like me who chose not to support the program?

As Jacqueline Kasun says, “The real problem of government’s family planning is not of families out of control, but of planners out of control.� They have been basking in the power of population control because people have failed to examine, criticize or even perceive its real motives. It has been taking place with such rapidity and with so little opposition. They are riding the crest of a mighty wave which has began more than a century ago with the idea of Malthus, Darwin, Marx, Galton, and Pearson, which have already long been debunked by noted economists like 1967 Nobel Prize winner Simon Kuznets and Richard Easterlin, Professor Julian Simon, Kasun, Robert L. Sassone, Columnist Marilyn Vos Savant, Ben J. Wattenberg, and even Dr. Joseph Chamie, Director, Population Division of the United Nation’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, among many others. The truth is that population growth has important long-term benefits, because, overall, individuals contribute more than they can consume.

When shall we realize that children are blessings? As John Pacheco and Pete Vere says in their article “The Battle of the Bond…The Rosary or Contraception?� (Laywitness, September/October 2003), Contraception is ultimately a denial of God’s presence and movement among us. Its central presupposition is that God does not care for us or that He does not want what is best for us. In short, contraception does not trust God with the sexual act. It not only withholds something from our spouse, but it also excludes God’s participation in the most sacred act He created.�

“In refusing to trust in God’s providence,� they add, “… man also ends up denying the fruits of that faith which are his children – the same children who will love him and care for him in his old age. He therefore forfeits the blessings and gifts God wants to pour out upon him as Scripture says: “Sons are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are sons born in one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them!� (Psalms 127:3-5).

We always complain that another baby is another mouth to feed, and that milk is very expensive. We are forgetting that with every gift of a baby, comes a bonus: free milk from the mother’s breasts which is the best food for the babies, and with every mouth comes two hands to help in the housework later on and help earn a living for the family.

Of course I’m not saying that couples should not plan their families. You must know however, that there’s a difference between family planning and population control. Family Planning implies that decisions are made by couples, taking into account their own beliefs and circumstances, regarding the number and spacing of their own children. Population control measures, in contrast, are implemented by governments and international agencies after they have determined the number of children couples ought to have. These two concepts are fundamentally different. Family Planning gives couples control over their reproductive behavior. Population control forces them to relinquish this control to governments and international agencies. As Mother Teresa has said: “I know that couples have to plan their family and for that there is natural family planning. The way to plan the family is natural family planning not contraception. In destroying the power of giving life, through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something to self. This turns the attention to self and so it destroys the gift of love in him or her. In loving, the husband and wife must turn the attention to each other as happens in natural family planning, and not to self as happens in contraception. Once that living love is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows very easily.�

Natural Family Planning (NFP), particularly the Ovulation Method or otherwise known as Cervical Mucus Method, or the Billings Method, is beautiful and easy. It can be practiced by all women, regardless of the kind of cycle they have – long, short, or regular cycles. Irregularity of the cycles does not interfere with the ovulation method, and it can be used by women, regardless of what state they are in – breastfeeding, menopausal, and even off-contraceptives. It can also be easily practiced even by people who do not know how to read and write, because Family of the Americas, has simplified it for them through the use of colors. It is not also true that you have to abstain almost all the time, or that abstinence is not possible. A woman is fertile for only approximately 100 hours in a cycle. Abstinence is a common occurrence among husbands and wives. Besides, what is always available can never be truly special. In other words, abstinence as researches have proven, can actually enhance the love and passion between the husband and the wife. As noted geneticist, Prof. Jerome Lejeune has said, “Science reveals to us that the natural regulation of births, or rather of conception, is not only possible but fully effective. Any woman can recognize the signs of her fertility by learning what to look for. This awareness of fertility is the basis for the true freedom of love.� I realize now that NFP was not taught properly in the past because there is no money in NFP. On the contrary, contraceptives is a multi-billion dollar industry.

Shifting the gears of public health from contraceptives to natural will considerably bring down expenses in our cash-strapped government, and will rid us of graft and corruption brought about by the multi-million dollar grants. NFP will truly promote health because there are no side effects. It can also be learned and taught by anyone. More importantly, it will bring back the needed sense of values and morality, not only in the government but between and among couples and families.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the future of humanity is in our hands. We must rescue the family from the claws of darkness. Our influence as parents, educators, and media personalities can defeat the forces of darkness. As Mercedes Arzu-Wilson says, “We must not underestimate the power of self-control that young people possess and should be challenged to put into practice. “True love waits for marriage� is the answer to future happiness.�

Married couples do not have to remain slaves to the lucrative market of artificial birth control, sterilization, or abortion that continues to exploit them. Natural Family Planning unites the couples, increases communication, and contributes to the disappearance of separation and divorce.

Thank you, and God bless the Philippines!

Ligaya B. Anacta-Acosta, D.M.
(A Speech delivered during the Press Conference of Human Life International – Asia 14 March 2005 Sulo Hotel, Quezon City)

[gareb]

But this bill also allows abortifacients.

wrong. it does not explicitly say so. and even if your argument points out to portions of the bill implying the usage of the phrase "modern contraceptive methods" or "full range of legal and medically-safe family planning methods" does not directly point out to abortifacients.

if indeed, as defined by the Constitution and by the anti-abortion laws in the country, that such abortifacients are illegal, then technically the usage of such methods should be abandoned right away, as they are deemed illegal by law. and if the anti-abortion laws do not have any provisions whatsoever with regards to defining where pregnancy starts, then by all intents and purposes, all efforts should be addressed towards ammending this law so that it will conform with the Consititution, and hopefully a section will be added to address the the usage of devices and methods deemed to be "abortifacient" or "contraception". a clear distinction must be made between both.

again, this bill is not about abortion. and we no not need to replicate the anti-abortion laws as there already is one. it would simply not make any sense.

if your group is worried that this bill will "sneak in" the usage of abortifacients, then let me state this clearly that the bill only follows the parameters of what is deemed as "abortion" according to existing laws. it is there, clear and simple.

Small families spend less so they get less deductions.

exactly. to balance out the equation, income tax exemptions are instituted, simply because a large family's need is obviously bigger than a small family's needs. is this not a recognition that a large family needs more resources, than a smaller one?

but on the other hand, can you call this then as an incentive placed by the government to encourage people to bear more children?

and how should one create an incentive to encourage small families rather than big ones? more resources are hard to come by. this is a fact.

The world's resources are not anywhere cloise to being exhausted by population grwoth

"It is not a question of the human population outstripping resources, since food production continues to exceed population growth and non-renewable resources become more plentiful each year as new sources are found"

really? how about oil, a non-renewable resource? is this not being exhausted by population growth? how about the costs of extracting oil? they talk so much of "extraction" as CO2 levels have been increasing yearly due to massive dependence on oil? ever contemplated on the effects of global warming (receeding coastlines, climactic changes, etc)

and the environmental costs of producing such vast quantities of food? how about the environmental degradation caused by deforestation and clearing operations to build more farms? or the drainage of swamplands and marshes? or the expansions needed to accomodate urban migration, especially in the 3rd world countries?

it would be foolish to deny the environmental effects brought about by overpopulation. to cry that pollution is merely an effect of mismanagement limits the scenario to localized communities where big factories pollute the surroundings. it fails to paint a global picture of a worsening wage disposal problems, especially those coming from the industrialized countries whose population, though small, gets the bigger share of resources and produces more waste than those in developed countries.

In its "Global Population Profile: 2002", the U.S. Census Bureau noted that global population growth peaked over a decade ago, and that birth rates are falling at an alarming rate, one that is unprecedented in human history.

because of the use of contraceptives. be it known that population growth rate and birth rate are not synonymous. i hope you are aware of this. 0 growth rate does not mean a decline of the population. what we want is a population whose needs can be managed and delivered properly, not something that goes out of control.

no real connection between poverty and "overpopulation"

tell that to the United Nations and the International Conference on Population and Development or the Population Institute

The bootomline: you're arguments for population comntrol have no sound scientific or economic basis whatoever. It is all part of a myth that you have swallowed hook, line, and sinkler.

think again. related literature that concerns the adverse effects of uncontrolable population growth is a firmly established and widely supported science. it is pretty obvious how big families need more resources. the analogy is the same with world population.

ignoring this is a fatal mistake. now that sounds like a fish who caught the bait, hook, line and sinker.

and yes, you havent even answered why the Catholic Church advocates family planning(though they use natural methods) yet. i wonder why the contradiction. correction: it seems that Bishop Teodoro Bacani now says that the usage of condoms are A-ok. at least for married folks.

[mannyamador]

Gareb wrote:

it does not explicitly say so. and even if your argument points out to portions of the bill implying the usage of the phrase "modern contraceptive methods" or "full range of legal and medically-safe family planning methods" does not directly point out to abortifacients.

You're ignoting realites on the ground again.

Obviously HB3773 will NOT explicitly allow abortifacients. It would never pass if it did. It will never even ackniowledge the existence of such because the idea is to sneak it in by making things ambiguous. That is how many things get sneaked in, as for example, "access to abortion" in UN policies. You should read up on that.

all efforts should be addressed towards ammending this law so that it will conform with the Consititution, and hopefully a section will be added to address the the usage of devices and methods deemed to be "abortifacient" or "contraception".

That is precisely what the authors have REFUSED to do even though it was pointed out to them. Have you ever wondered why? Because to make it clear that abortifacients are illegal will decimate their efforts at population control and minimize the profits of their benefactors. They WANT such devices to be used. That is exactly where the IPPF, PLCPD, and large pharmaceutical companies can make a profit. Without such abortifacients they are stuck with Natural Family Planning and condoms. The former will generate no profits at all for the pharmaceuticals, while the latter has very small profit margins, low take-up, and a high failure rate. They want ALL methods to be used, abortifacient or not.

and how should one create an incentive to encourage small families rather than big ones?

No such incentives are needed. We are NOT overpopulated, as I have proven.

how about oil, a non-renewable resource? is this not being exhausted by population growth?

Not at all. Humanity is nowhere near exhausting ALL oil supplies. And we are getitng closer to alternative sources of power. There is hardly any need to panic. As for environmental degfradation, there is no evidence this is caused by "overpopulation". It is caused by massive greed and illegal methods. But population has nothing to do with it since almost all of this environmental degradation stems from mismanaged usage, not NECESSARY usage by large populations. The answer is not in lessening the number of people (since large numbers are necessary for continued economic growth) but in rationalizing usage and minimizing greed, corruption, and waste.

tell that to the United Nations and the International Conference on Population and Development or the Population Institute

The UN Population Division has already realized that "overpopulation" is hardly a reality (EMPHASIS ADDED):

The Fizzling Population Bomb
U.N. Report Points to Slowing of Growth
(http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=67670)

NEW YORK, MARCH 12, 2005 (Zenit.org).- World population growth continues
to SLOW DOWN, with a projected figure of 9.1 billion in 2050, up from
today's 6.5 billion. The latest forecasts were published Feb. 24 by the
Population Division of the U.N. Department of Economic and Social
Affairs

So has the US Census Bureau (EMPHASIS ADDED):

Census Bureau: World Population Slowing to Dangerous Levels
http://www.lifenews.com/nat397.html

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A report released Monday by the Census
Bureau shows that world population growth is SLOWING TO DANGEROUS
LEVELS. In its report, "Global Population Profile: 2002," the Census Bureau
notes that the 74 million people added to the world's population in 2002
were significantly fewer than the high of 87 million people added in
1989-1990. The growth rate was a meager 1.2 percent, down from the high of
2.2 percent in 1963-64.

This completely sinks your totally inaccurate statement below:

related literature that concerns the adverse effects of uncontrolable population growth is a firmly established and widely supported science.

Scientce? More like mythology that has been entrenched through constant parroting. Overpopulation is a myth that has been debunked by modern science. Malthus is dead and so are his theories and those even remotely related to them.

you havent even answered why the Catholic Church advocates family planning(though they use natural methods)

The Church recognizes that ordinary poor people are VICTIMS of injustice and as such may have to limit their families in LOCALIZED and SPECIFIC instances. This is NOT a normal situation. These people have been victimized by injustice. Thus these means are TEMPORARY and mioral. The idea is to provide temporary relief. It does NOT justify the contraceptive mindset or population control as a natio0nal policy. You should know the difference and not remain blind to it.

The bottom line is that you have simply failed to make your case for population control. Study after sutdy by reputable agencies have debunked the overpopulation myth. You would do well to open your eyes and look at the evidence.