MANDALUYONG City, Feb. 13, 2013—The ones who will be living long enough to reap the effects of anti-life legislation are young people and this is exactly why pro-life issues are youth issues, according to a lawyer.
“70% of the population is 30 years and down and that’s a huge demographic. The point here is that pretty soon, perhaps in a decade’s time this essentially is their country,” Atty. Jeremy Gatdula from Ang Prolife party list said.
Gatdula, who is also a professor at the Ateneo Law School, explained that the coming elections are especially crucial because its outcome will have profound effects, not just on young people’s professional lives, but on their family lives.
“If these measures, which are deemed anti-life and anti-family, come into fruition…they will be the ones actually left to suffer for it,” he added.
Gatdula made obvious references to the newly-minted RH Law and a divorce bill in the works.
Euthanasia, abortion, divorce
Pro-life issues are creating a palpable divide — not just in the country, but on a global scale.
Gatdula described a “huge struggle” over issues like the Health and Human Services mandate in the U.S., which requires all health plans to shoulder costs for all contraceptives; debates about same sex marriage and euthanasia in Europe; and even demographic problems in Asia, which also enforced contraceptive measures decades ago.
“We just have to look at the other countries. These countries have high divorce, high abortion rates. Then we’ve seen that growth levels are down. Inequality is actually increased, unemployment, illiteracy, the failure to get quality education actually all fall into place,” he added.
Others with Ang Prolife party list include James Imbong, general counsel of the St. Thomas More Society Philippines; Lorna Melegrito, executive director of Pro-life Philippines Foundation; Lareina Manalang – Garcia, a teacher; and Edgardo Joven Tirona, an advocate for poverty alleviation and social development. [Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz]
