FUNNY how, with the use of certain colorful words, what usually is wrong can be made right, at least on the surface.
Consider the proposed Reproductive Health Care Act, which was junked, thankfully, by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations (COM-AP) recently. (See related story on page 9)
Popularly known as House Bill 4110, it seeks to endorse the use of “healthy” contraceptives. However, pro-life groups see it otherwise.
Disguised in the semantics of the bill are such heinous anomalies as abortion, abortifacients, and plain contraceptive imperialism.
As a Catholic university, UST has reason to rejoice over COM-AP’s decision. Since last year, the University has been very vocal on its stand against House Bill 4110 due to the bill’s serious health and bio-ethical implications.
Experts complain that intra-uterine devices (IUDs), injectables, implants, and pills may result in abortion since they make a woman’s uterus hostile to the baby’s implantation in case these methods fail to prevent fertilization.
According to former Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president and current Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, OMI, though the bill uses the terms “reproductive health care” and “reproductive rights”, which seem harmless enough, the truth is that the term, when used internationally as in the United Nation’s notorious Cairo’s document, categorically includes abortion.
Interestingly, those who had earlier lobbied for the approval of House Bill 4110 were those who had connections with fertility-control zealots, international aid agencies promoting abortion, and multinational contraceptive manufacturers, which are said to be the ones that would greatly benefit if the act were legalized.
But after the Church’s crusade, which rallied the faithful not to vote for those who support the bill, House Bill 4110 easily lost at least 20 lawmakers.
Instead of the Reproductive Health Care Act, Congress should develop a law that would promote the maternal health and human rights of the women.
It should craft a law that would ensure the safety of women against crimes such as prostitution, rape, and trafficking.
Let’s face it, violence are committed against women simply because they are women. It has already become a global epidemic, which would never be cured by a mere “reproductive health care act”, which is narrow-minded and ultimately self-serving to the interests of the global contraceptive industry.
