MANILA, Nov. 10, 2011?The destructive consequences of reproductive health (RH) legislation on society have been experienced by nations worldwide, and the Philippines will be better off holding on to Filipino values and opposing the RH agenda, said Filipinos living abroad.
“I think it would be a tremendous mistake if the Philippines were to pass this bill. My heart breaks if the land of my birth succumbs to this unapologetic assault on what I’ve always seen as uniquely Filipino values and traditions,” lamented Stef Patag, a homemaker living with her family in the United States for the past 25 years.
“It may indeed be that the Philippines has changed that much since I left in ’86, but I wish that the supporters of the bill would at least take an honest look at the history of the so-called ‘reproductive rights’ movement and see it for what it is, before they support it, especially since every country that has legalized contraception under the guise of ‘reproductive health’ or ‘reproductive rights’ has gone on to legalize abortion,” she pointed out.
Among the proposed moves included in the RH bills pending in the Philippine legislature — Senate Bill 2865 and House Bill 4244 — are taxpayer-funded, State-promoted procurement and distribution of birth control supplies and provision of reproductive health services, with punitive measures for health care providers who refuse to comply.
“Living in the US for the past 25 years I think I’m at least a bit qualified to say that this is not the kind of culture I’d wish on anyone, much less a country that I love and will always think of as ‘home’. I think it’s foolish to believe that the Philippines won’t be headed in that direction when the rest of the world did,” Patag said.
“You cannot really pick and choose, since these life issues are all interconnected: divorce, same-sex marriage, abortion, contraception, euthanasia, human cloning…. they all stem from an anti-life mentality and to say yes to one of these is a yes to everything else, eventually,” she added.
Introducing life, sexuality with whole new meaning
Rowena Mendoza de Guzman likewise remarked that the prospect of a reproductive health law being implemented in the Philippines would erode time-tested values that have been entrenched in a family-oriented, God-respecting culture and imbibed in children.
“I think this reproductive health bill is something that will undermine the very culture and values of the Filipinos. For one thing, we trust in God and we love our children. This ‘reproductive health law’ will introduce to our children and inculcate in them a whole new meaning and value of life wherein the focus is not anymore on trust in God but trust in drugs,” she said.
De Guzman, who has resided in the United States West coast with her husband and children for 11 years now, pointed out that even the very meaning of sexuality will be distorted, from “something holy and life-giving to something selfish and pleasure-seeking.”
“This is not in accord with our faith as Catholics, and it is not in accord with our culture as Filipinos. This is totally a liberal agenda whose main purpose is population control, which is being shoved down the throats of Filipinos in the guise of ‘reproductive health’. And who will be suffering the most? Women and unborn children,” she stated further.
Carcinogens as essential medicines?
De Guzman explained that contraceptives — oral contraceptives specifically –while being classified as Class 1 carcinogens by the World Health Organization (WHO) are being pushed into being categorized as “essential medicines” in the Philippines via the RH bills.
“Carcinogens are essential medicines? I think anyone with common sense can tell there is something wrong with that. And what do these ‘essential medicines’ cure or treat? Medicines are supposed to be used to cure or treat a disease /sickness right?” she asked.
“They cure nothing! In fact, these ‘essential medicines’ do the exact opposite [of what medicines are supposed to do]. They shut down a normal, healthy reproductive system so that it can be taken over and controlled by these synthetic hormones.”
Learn from the mistakes of the West
Patag recalled the path taken by the US as regards the culture of life/culture of death, pointing out that after contraception was legalized in the ’60s, Roe vs. Wade happened in 1973 thereby decriminalizing abortion — only to reach 2011, “53 million-plus abortions later, and they’re still using the tired phrase ‘unmet need’. I wish I could tell people, turn back now, turn back before it’s too late. The tide is certainly turning here in the US, especially the young people who know contraception isn’t the panacea a lot of Filipinos seem to be hoping it would be, and I’d hate for the Philippines to open that Pandora’s box and not be able to close it, like what’s happening here, 40-plus years later,” she said.
“Let us not be fooled into thinking this is about ‘reproductive health’, De Guzman stressed. “It’s not about health, it’s not about choice. It’s simply about population control putting women’s lives, the lives of the unborn, and future generations’ lives at risk.”
“Filipinos are pro-God, pro-life, and pro-family! The RH bill has no place in our culture,” she added.
Patag is optimistic, though, because more and more Filipinos seem to be getting involved and are “awake like never before.”
“Certainly it seems to have led to people questioning their basic beliefs, like when does life begin, is there really a God, what does He want me to do, etc. I hope that in the end it only leads to good things, and since God brings good out of anything, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how dark it may get,” she said.
“We’ll keep on praying at any rate, and I hope PNoy and the legislators are praying too,” she furthered. (CBCP for Life)
