Speaker Anna Cosio highlights the harmful effects of contraceptive use on both mother and child.
MANILA, Feb. 18, 2013—In a forum about the defense of life, marriage and family, a nurse underscored the harmful health consequences of contraceptive use and pointed out that there is an option, one that eliminates the dangers of birth control supplies: natural family planning (NFP).
“We are not saying that just because ayaw natin sa contraceptives, magpapakarami nalang tayo indefinitely. One must always remember that God has made our bodies in a way that there are fertile and infertile periods. Through natural family planning, we can still plan to achieve or avoid pregnancy,” said registered nurse Anna Cosio of Catholic Vote Philippines (CVP), who added that abstinence and monogamy are also among the things that can be observed.
Harmful on both mother and child
Cosio highlighted the medical and scientific aspects in rejecting the Reproductive Health (RH) law signed secretly several days before Christmas last year, saying it can bear numerous harmful effects on both the mother and her child owing to the distribution of birth control supplies – some of them established as abortifacient – worth millions of pesos which is the measure’s hallmark.
Among the harmful effects she noted caused by the use of artificial contraceptives are chemical abortion, breast cancer, cervical cancer, cardiac arrest, osteoporosis, and venous thrombosis or blood-clotting.
Instead of allocating government funds for contraceptives, the nurse said various natal care measures require the attention of lawmakers to help improve the condition of pregnant women. She suggested nutritional supplements and both pre- and post-natal care as products and services worthy of fund allocation.
Cosio added that since contraceptives do not have a 100% success rate, conceiving is always a possibility.
In light of the controversial debates regarding the RH law, Cosio noted that the measure was not bad in totality as it addressed issues concerning women’s welfare. She said that including such provisions in the measure, however, was a form of redundancy as these were already covered in the Magna Carta of Women (MCW).
CVP spokesperson Dr. Ricardo Boncan, the other speaker at the Saturday forum, pointed out that abortion serves as a backup when pregnancy avoidance through the use of contraceptives fails.
“The entry of abortion in a country is always the failure of contraception use,” he said.
Socio-cultural impact
Aside from the medical side-effects of contraception, Boncan also noted its social and cultural-societal impact such as conjugal infidelity, general lowering of morality, disrespecting women and treating them as “mere instruments of selfish enjoyment” rather than as cherished partners, and the massive imposition of contraception by unscrupulous governments.
According to Boncan, a contraceptive mentality also affects the psychology of couples as it “decorates sex as a mere end of sexual pleasure.”
The forum was organized by Defensores Fidei Foundation and Totus Bookstore. (Jennifer M. Orillaza)
