I’ve been posting my pro-RH bill stand on my Facebook page for the past few days as I can’t help but feel sorry for those who are misinformed and misguided about what is the importance of approving the Final Consolidated Reproductive Health Bill, also known as House Bill 4244 (HB4244) or The Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2011.
I am for it not because I want people to have freedom to have sex with everyone… but I am for it because I don’t want any more abandoned children to live in the streets or be deprived of proper care (education, shelter and nourishment).
The Consolidated Reproductive Health Bill enumerates a dozen of very important factors that will not just benefit those who are active in sex, wants to be active with sex or wants to abort a child. That is the worst misconception of the RH bill. The RH Bill does not want to kill, it wants to save lives and give quality life to everyone not just a few.
May I just remind those who are anti-RH bill not everyone in this country are Catholic, so please don’t make them subscribe to your ancient interpretation of the bible and what God wants for us. God wants everyone to be happy, healthy and safe. The devil likes suffering , sickness, despair and pain.
HB 4244 talks about the following:
SEC. 5. Midwives for Skilled Attendance
SEC. 6. Emergency Obstetric Care
SEC. 7. Access to Family Planning
SEC. 8. Maternal and Newborn Health Care in Crisis Situations
SEC. 9. Maternal Death Review
SEC. 10. Family Planning Supplies as Essential Medicines
SEC. 11. Procurement and Distribution of Family Planning Supplies
SEC. 12. Integration of Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning Component in Anti-Poverty Programs
SEC. 13. Roles of Local Government in Family Planning Programs
SEC. 14. Benefits for Serious and Life-Threatening Reproductive Health Conditions
SEC. 15. Mobile Health Care Service
SEC. 16. Mandatory Age-Appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education
Age-appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education shall be taught by adequately trained teachers in formal and non-formal educational system starting from Grade Five up to Fourth Year High School using life skills and other approaches. The Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education shall commence at the start of the school year immediately following one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act to allow the training of concerned teachers. The Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the DSWD, and the DOH shall formulate the Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education curriculum. Such curriculum shall be common to both public and private schools, out of school youth, and enrollees in the Alternative Learning System (ALS) based on, but not limited to, the psychosocial and the physical wellbeing, the demography and reproductive health, and the legal aspects of reproductive health.
Age-appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education shall be integrated in all relevant subjects and shall include, but not limited to, the following topics:
(a) Values formation;
(b) Knowledge and skills in self protection against discrimination, sexual violence and abuse, and teen pregnancy;
(c) Physical, social and emotional changes in adolescents;
(d) Children’s and women’s rights;
(e) Fertility awareness;
(f) STI, HIV and AIDS;
(g) Population and development;
(h) Responsible relationship;
(i) Family planning methods;
(j) Proscription and hazards of abortion;
(k) Gender and development; and
(l) Responsible parenthood.
The DepEd, CHED, DSWD, TESDA and DOH shall provide concerned parents with adequate and relevant scientific materials on the age-appropriate topics and manner of teaching Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education to their children.
SEC. 17. Additional Duty of the Local Population Officer
SEC. 18. Certificate of Compliance
SEC. 19. Capability Building of Barangay Health Workers
SEC. 20. Ideal Family Size
SEC. 21. Employers’ Responsibilities
SEC. 22. Pro Bono Services for Indigent Women
SEC. 23. Sexual And Reproductive Health Programs For Persons With Disabilities (PWDs)
SEC. 24. Right to Reproductive Health Care Information
What’s so evil and devilish about the above provisions of the RH Bill?
For the complete text of the House Bill 4244 or Final Consolidated Reproductive Health Bill click here
I pray that God will open the minds of those who have close minds and are blinded by their faith and are misinformed. Ignorance is not a bliss in this situation.
How about you, what is our stand on the RH Bill?
Stay gorgeous everyone!
UPDATE:
- Sen. Teofisto Guingona III filed an appeal against this bill at the Supreme Court today (Sept 27, 2012)
- Because of this post I was invited to be a guest in the pilot episode of ”The Blogger” show on Solar News TV
- Several gov’t websites were hacked as a protest against RA10175
I do respect your opinion. I think that I have already extensively discussed above all the things that I fear would happen when the bill is passed such as the problem of the irresponsibility in parents still being imminent and the rise of STD’S in our country. There are actually more, but I believe that I have already provided enough information for your readers.
I hope that you respect my opinion as well and “get” what I fear from this. I get the vibe that you are not very pleased with my opinion, but I hope that you take the time to consider it. I am not imposing my beliefs on you or on anyone else, I’m merely sharing them which I believe isn’t wrong. I hope that you do the same! Yes, I agree with you. Everyone’s opinion is very essential , including mine. It doesn’t weigh less against those who cannot afford healthcare.
Yes, I do know of the educating part in the bill. As i have said, I believe that education is the answer but the education that the government is suggesting is the one I highly disagree with. To answer your question, I am single and currently studying law in the University of the Philippines.
Hi Anna, I respect your opinion and no I am not annoyed with you writing your opinion. I’m happy you take time to read and post a comment. I’d appreciate if everyone does. I get the fear of the freedom to have sex with everyone else is the fear you mostly have and that will cause a spread of STD’s. I still believe we need the RH bill as there are many who can not afford a healthcare , maaternal care and is not given proper education and resources for responsible parenthood and safe sex.
It already happens sex is everywhere we can’t turn a blind eye. It happens no matter how hard we try to hide from the truth and be religious about it it happens. Rape also happens. The RH bill somehow empowers the women who can’t afford and having this RH bill in place they will no longer have to be condoned if they do something out of their choise. Wiht the RHBill and with the beliefs you empower the people and you give them the freedom to choose what is good for them. By prohibiting this bill you are restricting the people and the more you restrict the people the more they will rebel. It is better to have the freedom to choose than being restrained and be called evil/sinner/violator of law.
Yes, I have read the whole bill and my opinion still does not change. There are other things in that bill that show contradictory premises such as its supposed value of freedom of choice which frankly goes against some of its other provisions. I could talk about that too even further if you want me too. I just focused on the contraceptives part of the bill since that’s the point you mainly raised and where most of the controversy lies.
Anna, if you don’t want the RH bill I respect you with that respect my opinion as well. Its not my opinion only that matters but the others who can’t afford healthcare maternal care contraceptives and doctor and all else. I don’t know what you are afraid of with this bill I don’t get it. IF you mind may I know your marital status? Educating the soon-to-be-parents is also included in the bill.
So now you’re saying that the root of the problem are the irresponsible/uneducated parents. Let us now ask ourselves why they are irresponsible in the first place. It is because they fail to exercise self-control over themselves and their sexual urges which leads them to fall into the same situation over and over again. By giving out condoms, we are tolerating their irresponsibility even more, sending out the message that it’s okay, it’s alright that the government and the other taxpayers would be the ones to suffer just because you cannot control your own sexual urges. We are therefore condoning this wrong mindset in them even further. The only way we can effectively target and solve this problem of self-control in these people is through education. Giving out condoms and contraceptives to them isn’t the proper education. Like you have said above, we cannot keep on depending on the government to keep on feeding these street children. It’s just the same concept with these irresponsible parents. By giving out these condoms, you are teaching them to be merely dependent on the government to help them control themselves and therefore not learn how to do it themselves.
All that the government is telling us about these condoms are about how they allow partners to keep on having intercourse without having unwanted pregnancies. They are not telling the people about the added risks that come from these condoms such as the increased chances of getting STD’s and other reproductive health diseases. To illustrate these risks, I would like to give an example of comparison between our country and Thailand. It was both during the 1980′s when cases of AIDS/HIV were first reported in both countries. Thailand’s response to this problem was to give out condoms to their people while the Philippines just responded with an abstinence campaign to inform people about this. At present, the number of STD’s between our countries differ so much. The number of STD’s in Thailand is 100 times more than the number of it here in our country, and this is bearing in mind that we just had the same amount of cases around 25-30 years ago.
I’m sorry for this incredibly long post on your blog, but I only wish to provide your other readers the arguments of the anti-RH side. I want them to see both sides and therefore be able to judge better and make a better stand. I am not against everything written in the bill, in fact I am very much in favor of the better healthcare it claims to provide for women. I just wish that our legislators may think about this decision more thoroughly and not just be motivated to push for it so that they can pursue another avenue for corruption, bearing in mind that there is a rather very huge budget set in store for this.
Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it
Hi Anna, I appreciate your long reply. But seriously RH Bill is not just about the CONTRACEPTIVE! Please read the bill again and tell me again your opinion.
As I’ve been reading your blog, the only main argument I’ve seen on why you are for the RH bill is because you don’t want to see street children anymore, suffering and dying from hunger. Well, if that is the problem then there are more feasible and concrete solutions rather than the RH bill. Why don’t we push our legislators to make better laws that would support and give better lives to these children? The funds that would be used to buy condoms and contraceptives can be better used to build new facilities to house these children, send them to school and to even invest in more jobs so that the parents of these kids would be able to support them already. Basically, by pushing for condoms and contraceptives as the solution to poverty, we are able to hinder this problem temporarily. With the state of our country, we should focus on finding solutions that would completely put an end to a certain problem. The correct solution isn’t always the easiest nor the fastest thing to do.
Hi Anna, thanks for leaving a comment. We already have laws for streetchildren but sadly our legislators do not implement them as they should and the funds goes to the pockets of corrupt officials. There are still more streetchildren roaming around . I believe we can stop poverty and the increase in number of streetchildren and growing population by directing the solution from the root of the problem which is the irresponsible / uneducated parents who don’t know any better but multiply. You can’t just keep on feeding the kids because they will be used to that and will go back to what they’ve learned from their parents. We must start with the parents.
I’m pro-RH bill because I think it’ll do a lot to help poorer families – especially regarding health care and maternal care (and not necessarily family planning!). I don’t think overpopulation is an issue here, but it really does help people to become responsible parents.
I was lucky enough to spend some time with members of an urban poor community in Manila and the nanays there tell me that their LGU / barangay actually provides family-planning education and services to those who want them. And most, if not all of them, took advantage of it because they want to be responsible and be able to provide for the children they already have, even if it’s sometimes a struggle.
Haba ng comment, haha, but I’m a longtime lurker
Thanks for this post 
Iam not against RH bill but Iam not in favor of the church meddling with the affairs of our government. Let the separation of church and state begins right now or else compell the church to pay taxes.
i agree with you about the RH bill though I also think that there are other issues that are equally important that can be addressed at the same time as the RH bill like health care, flood control, proper waste management, preservation of clean air
i am in support of rh bill to prevent teenage pregnancy, abortion and overpopulation. i hope the church sees the importance of this bill
Rovie
I am on this bill too. i hate to see children on the street asking for money,begging for food, working on the streets and specially those abandoned by the irresponsible parents.
there may be a lot of other problems but the government and charity groups cannot just keep feeding or giving jobs to the many people who haven’t even learned that they need a job to feed their kids. The RH bill will help Filipinos learn responsible parenthood and not just to keep getting pregnant and letting their children starve thinking after all, they have kept their babies well thru pregnancy anyway because the church do not support contraceptives. It’s the awareness Filipinos need more than supplying them with food shelter and jobs.
I am not anti-rh bill and i dont see anything evil about this but i think we have more issues to prioritize – like flood control/waste management and job for all. with discipline and right management, that a-l list will still be followed.