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Research suggests pregnancy is healthy, The Manila
Times reported in one of its series of articles on abortion. But
maybe not if there are too many of them. A neighbor died giving
birth to her 11th child. Her jobless husband became alone raising
the children, some of whom were already engaged in petty crimes. A
colleague’s 40-year-old mother died from cancer. Her body was worn
out after so many pregnancies and childbirths, the doctor said.
Abortions, too, kill and wreck
the heart. A mother died due to abortion complications leaving her
six children and husband behind. The abortion was supposed to have
removed an additional financial burden from the family.
A friend had her baby aborted
because her married lover didn’t want a child out of wedlock. She
has never stopped mourning the loss of the baby whom she would
rather have raised alone than never have had.
It is so easy to condemn women
who resort to abortions. Yet, in many cases, society didn’t
present them the available alternatives to abortion. True, some
couples don’t think of the possible consequences of engaging in
unprotected sex. They will have to live with their decisions for the
rest of their lives.
Sex and procreation shouldn’t
be separated, the church tells us. Old people, including old women
who can no longer have children, have sex drives. Is it immoral for
them to have sex? Lovers invent numerous positions to find maximum
pleasure, and not all involve the ejaculation of the sperm into the
vagina. Are such kinds of sex immoral? Sex is as old as the human
race, and the art of giving and receiving the highest sexual
pleasure has occupied the minds of men for thousands of years. Men
would live their fantasies with professional lovers while sex with
the wife was for the purpose of producing offspring. Fortunately,
more liberal views on sex and marriage have enabled men and women to
find love, exciting sex and family in marriage.
Sex is more than the act of
procreation. We are, after all, human beings, not animals. While the
need for sex may be purely physical and the sex drive biologically
determined, sex is also a means to give and receive warmth, love and
affection.
On the other hand, a sexual
attraction expressed in a manner unwelcome by its object becomes a
violation of the latter’s dignity and integrity. A Catholic priest
who plays with the straps of the bras of 20 female high-school
students during confession and pinches their armpits is obviously
guilty of such violation. The Archdiocese of Cebu has staunchly
defended the priest and his acts, thus revealing its poor
understanding of sex and sexuality, and how these cannot be
separated from the personality, integrity and dignity of the
individual.
God gave man the gift of freedom.
“The freedom to choose what is right and wrong. However, when
one’s freedom of choice is exercised erroneously, it may result in
regret, disappointment and failure. Choosing abortion present
countless dangers to women.” (“Abortion vs. Freedom of Choice,
Manila Times, Oct. 23, 2007).
But we don’t choose what is
right and wrong. God equipped us with mind, heart and soul aside
from freedom. We have the capacity to discern, to evaluate opposing
information, and make up our own mind. Regret, disappointment and
failure are prices worth paying for the exercise of freedom. The
problem with the Roman Catholic Church and its rigid doctrine on
reproductive health is that it is imposing its ways on everybody,
thus taking away people’s freedom to make choices based on our own
discernment and beliefs. Abortion is a last, desperate resort. Other
options, while being available, are scarce and remain unaffordable
to a majority of the population, in no small degree thanks to the
lobbying of the Catholic Church. Information about reproductive
health is deliberately being withheld. Cebu Archbishop Ricardo
Cardinal Vidal, in a homily some years ago, put men who undergo
vasectomy, in the same moral class as drug lords.
Sexuality is complex. It is
probably the most personal, private and individual aspect of a
person, yet also something that is visible and open for interaction,
a space where biology, politics and emotions mix in a dynamic,
ever-changing combination. Thus, to address the reproductive health
needs and concerns of society and the individual, we must go beyond
both religious doctrine and contraceptive supply.
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