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By Efren L. Danao, Senior
Reporter
The Catholic Church’s
insistence on natural contraception is “outdated and archaic,”
Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said on Monday as she expressed
support for bills on reproductive health.
“The Catholic religious should
get real!” she added.
Senators Rodolfo Biazon and
Panfilo Lacson have filed separate bills on reproductive health.
These were similar to the ones they had filed in the previous
Congress, but which were archived because of strong opposition from
the Catholic Church.
The Catholic bishops of the
Philippines have been opposing these bills which they considered as
pro-abortion. Some had even declared that authors of these bills
would be denied the holy sacraments. The Church had often campaigned
actively against the election of politicians favoring reproductive
health and insisted that family planning is best pursued through
natural methods.
Santiago said that the
“natural-law mentality” of the Church in the Middle Ages had
prevented many advances in medical science. At the same time, she
noted that Catholic teachings had since been evolutionary, like
those on religious liberty and usury which were banned before but
are now accepted.
She cited the final report of the
Papal Birth Control Commission, which had adopted the principle of
totality, or that sexuality is not meant only for procreation.
“Vatican 2 insisted that the
decision to have children must take into account the welfare of the
spouses and their children, the material and spiritual conditions of
the times, their state in life, the interests of the family group,
of society and of the Church,” Santiago said.
Biazon said he had been filing
and refiling bills on reproductive health because he believed that
the Philippines needs a population-management program that conforms
with the will of the majority.
“We are now 90 million. We will
hit 100 million by 2013. Two million babies are born every year. And
per record and studies, there are more than 400,000 cases of
abortion every year because of unwanted pregnancies and unplanned
families,” he added.
Biazon claimed that the
“unbridled” growth must be tamed to tolerable level through a
family-planning policy or it would outstrip food production.
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