Family planning gains favor

A MAJORITY of Filipinos view family planning as a personal choice that should not be interfered with, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said in a new report.

However, they also want the government to provide relevant information and also subsidize family planning methods, the SWS added, citing the results of a June 3-6 nationwide poll.

It said 82% of the respondents agreed with the statement “the choice of a family planning method is a personal choice of couples and no one should interfere with it”. Only 8% disagreed while 9% were undecided.

Approval was up 21 points from some 20 years ago when 61% said they concurred, the SWS said. At that time (November 1990) 26% were undecided and 13% disagreed.

Meanwhile, 73% of the respondents in the latest survey also said that if a couple wanted to practice family planning, relevant information on “all legal methods” should be available from the government. The figure was 18 points up from November 1990.

A majority of 68% also agreed that “the government should fund all means of family planning, be it natural or artificial means.” A little over half disagreed that the use of pills (52%), condoms (51%), and intra-uterine devices (51%) can be considered as abortion.

Pluralities also rejected the view that the inclusion of family planning in the school curriculum would lead to the youth becoming sexually promiscuous (46%) and proposals that tax payments be withheld as a means of protesting the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill (39%).

The majorities with regard to family planning being a personal choice, the government providing relevant information and also funding family planning programs were replicated in terms of geographical area (Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao) and socioeconomic class (ABC, D or masa and E).

The findings on the use of pills, condoms and IUDs also mirrored 2009 surveys in Bohol and Cebu, the SWS said, while those on family planning education were similar to a 2008 national poll and smaller surveys in Cebu, Metro Manila and Parañaque City the following year.

The plurality view rejecting a tax protest versus the RH bill also applied at the regional level, except in Balance Luzon, and by socioeconomic class.

The RH bill, currently pending in Congress, among others mandates sex education and allows for both natural and artificial means of family planning. It is being opposed by the Church and pro-life groups.

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda called the survey results an “affirmation” of President Benigno S.C. Aquino III’s position on reproductive health. Legislators, he added, could look on this as the people voicing their opinion on the issue.

“We believe that it should be the decision of the couple to determine the size [of the family] or the choice [of family planning method],” he said.

“We also believe that information must be provided them. With respect to providing funding, we are very, very emphatic about it, for those who were not able to afford the choice that they have made, we will so provide,” Mr. Lacierda added.

Mr. Aquino, however, has not certified the bill as urgent and has been noncommittal on whether it will be included when the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council next meets.

Mr. Lacierda said he was “not sure” if the RH bill would be included in an updated LEDAC priority list. He also declined to comment on the bill’s changes of approval as this would be “up to the legislators to decide.”

The latest SWS survey was conducted using interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide, with sampling error margins of ±3% for national and ±6% for area percentages. — J. P. D. Poblete, Businessworld