At the crossroad

We have indeed reached one of the most crucial stages of our life as a nation. We are facing a vital crossroad that will determine the kind of society we will have in the future. And this will depend on whether this administration will decide to take the road towards the culture of death or continue with the existing road towards the culture of life. More specifically, the choice is between a new path traversed by most of the western nations that would like to impose on us the contraceptive mentality now prevailing in their society as embodied in the RH bill, or our present path upholding the value of life and the sanctity of marriage and the family deeply etched and immutably enshrined in our Constitution itself. In short the choice is now between approving or finally junking the RH bill.

Actually, the choice is not so difficult if we see and acknowledge the truths and do not believe the lies about the bill.

The first and foremost truth is that all contraceptives to be made available by the bill at the expense of the taxpayers for the benefit of the pharmaceutical companies, directly cause abortion or lead to abortion. This is confirmed by the foreign groups aggressively pushing for their pet bill’s passage when they explicitly declared that: “We fund efforts to defeat onerous restrictions on abortion access, …to build an influential and active base of supporters willing to educate policy makers, community leaders and other decision makers about the importance of reproductive health and rights and access to abortion.” Thus, in America where the RH came from, 1 in 3 women have had at least one abortion in their lifetime such that there are now 1.5 million abortions yearly, with 500 million babies killed through abortion since the RH was adopted in 1973. The same is happening in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Canada and other countries that have legalized the use of contraceptives. In fact no less that the US Supreme Court itself in the case of Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, accepts the reality that “in some critical respects, abortion is of the same character as the decision to use contraception.”

The side effects of contraceptives are also dangerous to the life and the health of the mother and child. No less than our own Senator Tito Sotto tearfully narrated the loss of his 5-month-old first son 37 years ago for no apparent reason than his wife’s use of contraceptives as advised by her doctor. Then Dr. Esperanza Cabral, the ex-Health Secretary who distributed condoms freely during her term, also openly confessed on TV that contraceptives cause breast cancer. Dr. Carl Djerassi himself who developed the pills in 1960 admitted its adverse effect on virtually every organ of the human body interfering as it does with the normal functioning of the woman’s reproductive system. It also results in lower bodily resistance to infection, hepatic adenoma that could cause death through abdominal bleeding, nervousness and excessive irritability. Other researches also reveal that contraceptives cause leukemia, bone cancer, congenital malformation of the babies, greater risks of thyroid disorders, diabetes and heart and circulatory diseases. There are in fact more AIDS cases in countries with greater availability of condoms.

The second truth is that the RH bill takes away from parents their natural and primary right and duty to develop the moral character of their children by requiring grade school children to undergo sex education in the classrooms using modules that undermine or contradict the moral and religious convictions of their families. This compulsory education not only weakens parental authority but also incites adolescents to early sexual activity. Countries that have such sex education such as the UK and the USA show that it has only resulted in increased sexual activity among teenagers that leads to increase in STDs and unwanted pregnancies that lead to abortion.

The third truth consists of the dire social consequences arising from the contraceptive mentality that will be developed if the bill is passed. In countries that adopted the RH, the incidence of child abuse and wife battery are rampant. Woman’s status is lowered as mere sex objects for supposedly safe and satisfying sex. Couples split due to the wife’s feeling of being used as mere sex objects to satisfy their husbands’ sex drives. In the US more than 50% of marriages where couples use contraceptives end up in divorce resulting in broken homes and families. Human life in that country has become so cheap resulting in several incidents of mass killing in schools, theaters and other public places, the latest of which is the mass murder in Colorado.

On the other hand the first falsehood surrounding the bill is the claim that contraceptives do not cause abortion because abortion occurs only from the time of implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterus which is when life actually begins. This is a lie because medical science has already established that life begins from the moment of conception or from fertilization of the female ovum by the male sperm. In fact by mandating the State to protect the life of the unborn from the moment of conception, our Constitution itself recognizes that life begins from fertilization of the ovum to form a human embryo.

The second falsehood is the claim that the RH bill is necessary to control our population explosion that is the main cause of poverty. This is a lie because statistics show that our population may still be growing but the growth or fertility rate is steadily declining and may reach below zero growth rates like Singapore, the first Asian country to adopt the RH bill which is slowly dying. This is a lie because our big population is not a hindrance to economic progress and prosperity as confirmed by Michael Spencer, the Deutche’s chief economist for Asia who recently declared that the Philippines has the “strongest performing economy in Asia today.”

The third falsehood is the claim that the RH bill is necessary to check the growing maternal and infant mortality. This is a lie because the figures cited are not current but cover the past. It is also a lie because maternal and infant mortality can be checked by just improving medical services for pre-natal care which can be done without an RH bill.

Our problem now with regards to this RH bill is that this administration and its lackeys in Congress know the truths, see the truths but still believe in the lies. There is a term that best describes them, but I will not mention it anymore. I will just appeal that we pray harder for our country and for them to be still enlightened. –Jose C. Sison (The Philippine Star)

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Email: attyjosesison@gmail.com