Go Forth and Multiply

Two weeks ago, my fourth year high school daughter attended a Catholic-supported protest rally to trash the Reproductive Health Bill. Their school “encouraged” them to join the march to show support for the stand of the Catholic Church, since her private school is run by Catholic nuns. She didn’t really want to go, because she said she’s pro-RH (Alam mo na yun, Iss?). So I said, “then don’t go!” (kunsinti-dorang nanay!) But since they would be required to do an essay if they didn’t join, so grudgingly, she went. You know my daughter, she’d rather brave the heat of the sun and UV rays and pollution, than do some homework. It figures, right?




My interest was awakened by what this controversial RH Bill is all about. In a nutshell, here are the bill’s main points:

(1)   To promote, without bias, all effective natural and modern methods of family planning that are medically safe and legal

(2)   To ensure that all women needing care for post-abortion complications shall be treated and counseled in a humane, non-judgmental and compassionate manner

(3)   To integrate a component of family planning and responsible parenthood into all government anti-poverty programs

(4)   Reproductive health and sexuality education is required from grade five to fourth year high school

(5)   Companies with less than 200 workers are required to enter into partnership with health care providers in their area for the delivery of reproductive health services

Sounds reasonable, right? So why is the Catholic Church adamant to trash the RH bill? Their opposition is based on the following:

(1) The bill is based on faulty premises since a study of Nobel-prize winner Simon Kuznets, found no correlation between population growth and poverty in first world countries.

       (The last time I checked, we are still a third world country!)

(2) The bill takes away limited government funds from treating many high priority medical and food needs and transfers them to fund harmful and deadly devices.

       (But now our funds also go to providing for the health and food needs of the less fortunate)

(3) The latest studies in scientific journals and organizations show that the ordinary birth control pill and the IUD are abortifacient to fertilized eggs: they kill young human embryos, who as such are human beings equally worthy of respect, making the bill unconstitutional.

       (Oh, come on, really?)

(4) Combined estrogen-progestogen oral are carcinogenic, and confers other serious health risks. (And so does eating preservatives and artificial sweeteners and going out in the sun, according to studies)

(5) The country is not a welfare state: taxpayer's money should not be used for personal practices that are harmful and immoral.

       (And where should it go? To building more half basketball courts in the barangays? Or to making more substandard roads?)

(6) It promotes sex education of the youth which promoters themselves have considered as having brought about more teenage pregnancies and fatherless kids.

       (Let’s face it, our kids are exposed to the open media and the internet, no need for promotion there!)

The issue is so divisive that at one point, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines threatened to excommunicate the President, Benigno Aquino III if he supported the bill. What the…? Does it mean I am going to hell because I used oral contraceptives for ten years?

My three angels sleeping,
while the Mom was busy making milk--all night!:-(

You see, within three years of marriage, my kids came popping up after EVERY six months. Yep, imagine me---a 4’11 pregnant young woman, carrying a child on her right arm, while towing a walking toddler on her left. We tried to be obedient Catholics by not using any form of contraceptives, all right. But it’s either I didn’t know how to count, or I was just a baby machine; thus, the pills. I decided to use it because I was afraid that if another ‘blessing’ would come, we wouldn’t be able to provide enough financial, physical, and emotional support to them.
We did some calculating:  
Me + Hubby = 3 Kids + More?
Nope. It won’t do. It’s irrational. Simple math!




Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa. For me, it’s not about a question of sex or religion or morality anymore. Rich or poor, everyone has to answer to the call of responsible parenthood and reproductive health. This bill gives everybody that decision to choose. Let’s all do some math this time. We owe it to our kids.

Are there more coming, Mom?;-)