Friday, July 8, 2011

Sadie Frown of the Week: The Philippine's "Reproductive Health" Bill

I hadn't heard much about the "reproductive health" bills being pushed through in the Philippines these last couple of months. This article from NCR gives us an update. And it doesn't look good. Hopefully the Philippine's aren't going to be following in China's footsteps with their "reproductive health" policies. I don't find the wording the be reassuring, however:
MANILA — When Philippine lawmakers return on July 25 for the second session of the 15th Congress, they will continue debates on two reproductive-health bills that would undermine the Catholic culture of the populous Asian nation.

Similar in content, both the House and Senate bills seek to mandate government counseling on artificial contraceptives and promote sexual education for children as early as fifth grade.

Backed by powerful international population-control groups, the bills also recommend two children per family as a way to reduce poverty and foster economic development. The Philippines has a population of more than 90 million, about 82% of whom are Catholic...

Read the entire article here.
I'm just wondering how far they're willing to go to enforce that "recommendation." And while the president claims that people should be able to make that decision for themselves, be also says:

Yet, he also stated:
“In a situation where couples, especially the poor and disadvantaged ones, are in no position to make an informed judgment, the state has the responsibility to so provide.”
I'm afraid that makes his other statements less reassuring... And if you make it to the last paragraph you probably won't be surprised to see who's funding the whole drive for this bill...

3 comments:

  1. It is enough to make you sick.

    But I have to wonder..... if 83% of the population is Catholic, who the heck is voting/would vote for such a bill and who would have elected someone who would vote for such a thing?

    ReplyDelete

I love comments and I read every single comment that comes in (and I try to respond when the little ones aren't distracting me to the point that it's impossible!). Please show kindness to each other and our family in the comment box. After all, we're all real people on the other side of the screen!