The RH bill in perspective

It takes a lot of courage and political will for politicians to embrace causes unpopular to the Catholic Church. Traditionally, most politicians have safely avoided antagonizing the Church for fear of losing votes.

But, does the majority of Catholics in this country really oppose the Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population Development Bill, more popularly known as the reproductive health or RH Bill? Is there, in fact, a so-called Catholic vote?

Nationwide surveys on the RH bill have shown that a majority of Filipinos—regardless of religion—support the passing into law of the bill. In October 2008, the Social Weather Stations reported that 71 per cent were in favor of the bill. In October 2010, Pulse Asia reported that 69 per cent favored the bill. Further, major Christian churches —namely the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, the Iglesia ni Cristo, the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches and the Interfaith Partnership of Responsible Parenthood—have officially endorsed the bill. Notably, the most authoritative body of Islamic Clerics in the Philippines, the Assembly of Darul-Iftah of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, has supported the general view of Christians on the subject. It issued a fatwah or religious ruling giving Muslim couples a free choice on whether to practice family planning, particularly child spacing.

In her first sponsorship speech of the RH bill, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago traced the reasons why the Catholic Church, particularly its bishops, is so divided on this issue. She said one must look back to the Second Vatican Council which was held from 1962 to 1965 to understand the division in the Church. The Vatican II was the greatest of all councils, Senator Santiago said, as it started to sow the seeds of democratic revolution in the Catholic structure of authority. The Council emphasized that the Church was primarily the whole people of God and that the Pope and the bishops were collegial. Before Vatican II, the typical Catholic accepted that the authoritarian structure of the Church emanated from “the dictate of divine revelation.” The Pope was viewed as some superhuman potentate whose every word was a command coming from Divine authority. After Vatican II, progressive theology began to emerge, seeing the Church as, above all, a fellowship of spiritual communities. The decade that followed Vatican II saw the church in tumult as it sought a transition from the classicist to a historically-conscious world view.

A few years later after Vatican II, Pope Paul VI issued the Humanae Vitae, an encyclical or papal letter, sent to all bishops of the Catholic Church condemning the use of artificial methods of contraception. This papal letter created extreme tension in the Catholic Church. First, it was a departure from the progressive trend set by Vatican II. Second, while the papal encyclical was the result of a Special Papal Commission established by Pope John XXIII and concluded during the term of Pope Paul VI, Pope Paul VI adopted the minority, not the majority, report. The majority report of the Special Papal Commission proposed that contraception should no longer be condemned. The minority report urged the Pope to continue to condemn contraception. Thus, Senator Santiago states, after Pope Paul VI rejected the majority report, many Catholics were no longer ready to give blind obedience to his decree. Catholic theologians and some Episcopalian conferences voiced their opposition to Humane Vitae or, at least, took positions that were less than enthusiastic. This is the backdrop by which the continuing opposition to the RH bill by some Catholic bishops must be viewed, Senator Santiago said.

In her second sponsorship speech for the Senate version of the RH bill last week, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago set the tone for the debates this week when the Senate version of the bill would be deliberated on. Primarily, Santiago debunked the major argument by some Catholic bishops that the bill is pro-abortion. First, she said, the bill does not decriminalize abortion. Abortion is a crime under the Penal Code of the Philippines and it will remain to be a crime under the RH bill. The bill, if enacted, will advance the welfare of women and protect women’s constitutional rights, she said. Moreover, she added, the Philippines is a party to several international treaties requiring our government to pass a reproductive health law.

But most salient is Senator Santiago’s argument that reproductive health, including access to methods of contraception, is available to the rich and well-off members of society who can afford to seek medical attendance and buy methods of contraception of their choice. The poor sectors of society, on the other hand, depend only on whatever is available in government health centers. Without a reproductive health law, no funds will ever be made available to educating mothers and women about their reproductive health and the options available to them to plan and space their birth-giving.

And in my view, the voices of the poorest of the poor on this subject have not been heard. Those who have had to resort to abortions because of unwanted pregnancies; those whose kids barely eat a meal a day because they did not know how to plan the size of their families; and those who have seen death in their families on account of reproductive health problems—they all deserve an ear. The strongest voices opposing the bill come from bishops who do not understand the health problems of women and religious groups to which belong wealthy or, at least, middle-income families, who are not confronted by the reproductive health problems besetting the poor.

In its deliberations on the RH bill set this week, the members of the Senate must see the bill in the perspective of those who need it most, the poorest members of Philippine society. They should be guided by their conscience, not by what they perceive as the safer political stand vis-à-vis lobby groups. –Rita Linda V. Jimeno, Manila Standard Today

E-mail: ritalindaj@gmail.com Visit: www.jimenolaw.com.ph