CEBU CITY, Nov. 16 — 
The Reproductive Health (RH) bill has “no place in a constitutional and democratic society” because it curtails the right of Catholics to practice their beliefs, a former senator said at the opening of a three-day national pro-life conference here.
“There is no attempt on the part of Catholics to impose their belief on non-Catholics. We are not trying to stop anyone who wants to contracept for even now, they are free to contracept and sterilize themselves,” former senator Francisco Tatad said at the Philippines for Life Congress 2011 organized by Human Life International-Pilipinas.
“But they (RH bill supporters) are precisely the ones who wanted to impose their belief or non-belief on us Catholics. They want us to accept from Congress what is contrary to our faith,” he added.
Tatad said the state prescribing the use of contraceptives, using taxpayers’ money, is a practice that could only be done in totalitarian and communist countries.
“Even in the United States, Europe, and other non-communist countries—where abortion is unhappily allowed—the government has simply legalized the practice. Legalization is barbaric enough but in no case does the government prescribe it or impose it as they did and still do in communist and other totalitarian states,” Tatad said.
“The graver offense is that while you are given the illusion of choosing what contraceptives to use, the decision that you must use contraceptives in one form or another, has already been made for you by the authors of the bill.”
The conference at Summit Circle Hotel, which claims to be one of the largest pro-life gatherings in the country this year, is participated in by representatives of Pro-Life Pilipinas, Ang Kapatiran Party, and around 10 archdioceses and 31 dioceses all over the Philippines.
Nine speakers from different fields like politics, journalism, medicine, and education, are scheduled to share their thoughts on the RH bill in the three-day forum.
“For all of us gathered here, we believe in the [speakers’] expertise in [their] own fields. It is people like them whom we should certainly listen [to] and their words should have weight,” said Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma who presided over the Mass. Gervie Kay S. Estella
