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The Reproductive Health bill, popularly known as the RH bill, is a

Philippine bill aiming to guarantee universal access to methods and information on birth
control and maternal care. Presently, there are two bills with the same goals. First,
Albay 1st district Representative Edcel Lagman introduced The House Bill No. 4244 or
An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive
Health, and Population and Development, and For Other Purposes. Second,
Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago proposed Senate Bill No. 2378 or the Reproductive
Health Act. The CBCP or the Catholic Bishops¶ Conference of the Philippines have a
strong stand against the RH bill because it controls the exercise of the God-given rights
of human persons to enter into married life, procreate and raise families according to
the provisions of the Constitution and their religious convictions.

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First of all, the bill is wrong not because the Church is opposing it, the Church is
opposing it because it is wrong. According to Pope Benedict XVl whenever the Church
(and Catholics too ,for that matter) intervenes in the public square, its principal focus of
such participation must be consistent with the three Fundamental Non-negotiable
Principles, which are -

(i) the protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of
conception until natural death,

(ii) the recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family, as a
union between man and woman based on marriage, and

(iii) the protection of the rights of parents to educate their children.

All these three fundamental non-negotiable principles have been compromised,

undermined and conveniently set aside in the bill to propel its single-minded agenda of
aggressive contraception in an effort to depopulate the country of the ³poorest of the
poor and the marginalized¶, which also spawns hedonistic lifestyle devoid of any moral
sense. This is the reason the Church is against it, among many other reasons. The bill
in its present form poses a serious threat to life of infants in the womb, as it is a source
of danger for the stability of the family and places the dignity of womanhood at great risk
for which reason it is unacceptable to the Church ( cf CBCP Pastoral Statement on the
RHB, Standing Up for the Gospel of Life, 2008). It is the constant teaching of the
Church that - ³ any attempt on the part of the married people to deprive this act of its
inherent force to impede the creation of new life, either in the performance of the act
itself, or in, spermatocides, coitus interruptus, condoms, diaphragm, IUD, and abortion.
All of these prevent the creation of new life, or in case of abortion, to snuff it at its
earliest stage."

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There are many moral issues in the RH Bill. First, as a deadly instrument of
birth control, the bill itself is an anti-life measure. It seeks to hinder life through its
aggressive contraception program as a purported solution to poverty which definitely is
not. The bill is also anti-love. Contraceptive sex separates the unitive from the
procreative purpose of marriage and falsifies the mutual self-donation that should occur
during the conjugal act. It becomes an expression only of pure physical pleasure and
makes the woman its mere object. Under the bill, the government will encourage a
mass-based contraceptive sex spawning a contraceptive mentality among the populace.
This in turn will cultivate a promiscuous and hedonistic lifestyle that eventually assaults
the sanctity of marriage and the stability of family life. Consequently, it will lead to the
path of a nation-wide moral degradation and the corruption of Filipino values.
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In conclusion, as a responsible Christian and citizen of the Philippines, I am
absolutely against the Reproductive Health Bill and I support the side of the Catholic
Church. I did realize that the main point of this bill is to reduce the population of the
Philippines. Philippines is an overpopulated country because of widespread poverty and
ignorance. In one way or the other, I agree with their point but they never realized that
poverty is caused by the corruption of our elected officials. It is the government¶s
responsibility to attend to the needs of their fellowmen and provide them with sufficient
services so that poverty would be decreased. Instead of focusing on the reduction of
Philippines¶ population, they should focus first on the government. A change in the
system of governance should be made in order to lessen corruption. I believe that
Philippines would prosper if there would be no corruption and instead, an honest
governance and equality among our fellowmen. With this, I can say that the RH Bill is
just a waste of time. In worst case scenarios, if the RH Bill would be approved, what
would happen to the unborn infants? Would life be better with all those contraceptive
methods? Open your eyes to the reality. Let our conscience answer those questions.

References:

http://www.rcam.org/Homilies/2008/statement_catholics_cannot_support_RH_bill
_in_go0d_conscience.html

http://www.alagad.com.ph/human-development-and-social-services/3-health/272-
cbcp-stand-against-rh-bill.html

http://fightrhbill.blogspot.com/2011/05/catechism-on-reproductive-health-bill.html