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Sunday, October 12, 2008 |
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Special
Report
:Reproductive health and population dev’t act |
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Church doctrine vs.
Informed Choice |
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Many experts say the debate is mainly between the
Catholic objection
to artificial contraception and the urgent need to arrest Philippine
population growth through an effective, aggressive birth control
policy |
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By Rene Q. Bas, Editor in
Chief
Others see the debate between
Rep. Edcel Lagman, together with co-authors, and opponents of the
bill as one pitting Faith (and adherence to the doctrine of the
Catholic Church) versus giving every woman an Informed Choice about
whether to be pregnant or not. If not, then the choice is of what
method of contraception to use and being informed about what each of
these methods entails. (See related
story “Facts about birth control” by Rony Diaz.)
Since abortion is
illegal—criminal—in the Philippines, there is theoretically no
choice between aborting and not aborting a baby in the womb. In
reality, however, the number of illegal abortions must be rather
large. Filipinos take pride in the Philippines being a country whose
population is 85 to 90 percent Catholic, yet the number of dead
fetuses found in garbage cans, public and mall toilets is appalling.
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 Full
Story>>
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O T H E R R E P O R T S
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Retire the reproductive health bill
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House Bill No. 5043 is titled
“An Act Providing For National Policy On Reproductive Health,
Responsible Parenthood and Population Development and For Other
Purposes.”
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Full
Story>>
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What Rep. Lagman tells us HB 5043, if enacted, will do
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THE controversial population
control legislation called the “RH Bill” is slowly turning into
a religious war of sorts.
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Full
Story>>
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Worrisome provisions of HB 5043
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HB 5403 is assailed by, among many other lawyers, Mrs. Jo Imbong,
the executive secretary of the Legal office of the Catholic
Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines..
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Full
Story>>
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Some facts about birth control
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Informed choice
THE core of the Reproductive Health Bill No.
5043 is informed choice.
Yet none of the arguments for or against it
that I’ve seen or heard dealt in an objective way with the
different methods of birth control.
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Full
Story>>
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