03
Oct

Abortion, Loose Morals, and the Reproductive Health Bill


Two days ago I was arguing having a shouting match with my brother about the reproductive health bill. Like most of our arguments, it started with something small and petty. For this episode, I think we started arguing about whether we should sell hosting space or not. Until now I have no idea how we came to the health bill, oh wait, I think it has something to do with him accusing me of not having a god, a religion, or something along that line.

And before we could come into blows, our mother (dragon as she is) scared us into shutting up lest we lose access to our precious internet connection. My brother’s main argument was that I have no (gasp!) morals because (gasp again!) I have no religion and (big gasp!) I am pro abortion.

So fine. Let me dissect the issue and clear up a few points along the way.

First, yes I am pro abortion on the grounds that:
- the mother (usually its only the female right? dickheads get the opportunity to skip ya know) cannot care and provide for the child. Adoption is a good option (remember Juno?) but in Pinas where everybody I think has no problem producing babies then this is not viable at all.

-if having the baby threatens the health of the mother. Yeah, yeah, life starts the moment spermy and eggy meet, which means we’re killing a human being! Oh really…so let me follow this logic… since spermy and eggy are cells and the zygote is a cell then all cells are signs of life then we cant uhm… eradicate or remove them, right? If so, then we might as well stop taking a bath and using all those exfoliants at watsons because we’re killing cells, millions and millions of cells. Convoluted I know. haha.

Second, I have no religion but that does not mean I have no morals!
It means I just follow a different set of rules, my rules! do I go to church? Yes, but only when forced to do so (e.g. christmas with family, etc.) or when I’m in the mood to take photographs of churches. Lols.

Third, I am rooting for the reproductive heath bill because I believe it’s about time we do something about our population problem and the escalating number of fellow filipinos suffering from STDs. The reproductive health bill, of course, does not legalize abortion (since doing so will mean we have to change our constitution), but it offers us a choice to use contraceptive methods approved and unapproved by the catholic church.

More so, the bill promotes:
(1) Information and access to natural and modern family planning
(2) Maternal, infant and child health and nutrition
(3) Promotion of breast feeding
(4) Prevention of abortion and management of post-abortion complications
(5) Adolescent and youth health
(6) Prevention and management of reproductive tract infections, HIV/AIDS and STDs
(7) Elimination of violence against women
(8) Counseling on sexuality and sexual and reproductive health
(9) Treatment of breast and reproductive tract cancers
(10) Male involvement and participation in RH;
(11) Prevention and treatment of infertility
(12) RH education for the youth.

Fact: For the church, sex between unmarried couples is taboo.
Another fact: We’re doing it anyway, even the priests. ;)

So why try to stop the bill? A woman who does not use contraceptive pills is more likely to get pregnant than a woman who uses it, despite the fact that its (only) 98% sure.  And the catholic church sure isn’t paying for the kids borne out of unplanned pregnancies right? Nor are they paying for the medical expenses of Filipinos who have STDs. As for the accusations of teens becoming raving sex maniacs and having loose morals, well, the media is doing that already. Blogs, porn sites, and porn (soft or not) magazines are everywhere. You don’t need a bill to turn me or a kid into one.

The church, let’s face it, is behind the times. I will not and the kid next door will probably not consult our parents about sex or the priest or somebody older. Fact is, we tend to discuss it first with our age group, our friends, people who we think would not condemn us for thinking lewdly or for asking ‘green’ questions. Opening a proper and more youthful venue where we (feeling teenager noh?) can discuss the options is a step in the right direction, if you ask me.

Of course, I am as wary of the bill as most of the critics are, only difference is, I recognize the need for a reproductive health bill and has long since abandoned the thought of the church having the  power to save us from hell (wherever that is).

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  • http://awengmoralbasco.blogspot.com/ Aweng

    :) Reading the post made me smile.

    Yes, yes and yes.

    It’s easier for men to say because they do not go through all the hell women have to put up with.

    The church is a house of hypocrisy. I’ve never been religious but I strongly believe that there’s a God. And I don’t think He is a God that would be smiling looking down at the lot of starving children in the streets because their parents have not been amply educated on sex. And this idea is not limited to the poverty-stricken. A lot of children hunger for love… Love that irresponsible mothers or parents are not willing to give.

    I do have kids. Two beautiful ones. And though I am thankful I have not resorted to such act, I have nothing against it. Not all women are fit to be mothers. I hate having to watch any news about battered children. Of course, there are concerned citizens and the DSWD comes in. But in the end, these children would have to live an agonizing life together with these monsters of parents.

    But really…

    It doesn’t have to come to this point. I hope the bill on Pro-Choice gets approved. Readily available sources not only of contraceptives but also of sexual education would be the best solution to answer to the population explosion crisis, rising number of teen pregnancies, abortion and probably child abuse..

    The religious would always put out morality into view whenever the issue of contraception is raised.

    For the moral citizens, as they would like to put it, have you not been seeing the world that you are living in now? As the author have put it, premarital sex is a taboo. Sex is an inevitable trend that the media and almost every type of industry uses to make money. And obviously, it works. Morality is already not an issue here because it has long since been corrupted.

    I’m just glad that the number of people supporting pro-Choice is increasing.

    We should not make idiots of ourselves. Sex education and contraception should be propagated.
    :)

  • http://www.dabawenyangiska.com tiara

    @aweng: glad to see another supporter of the bill here. thanks! :)

  • http://southisms.com Kim

    Hi, I’m totally pro-abortion. Otherwise, I’m anti-woman.

    I’ll write more about this later because I need to get home, haha!

    Kims last blog post..Long gone the days of Urban to these day’s Rap, Hip-hop, RnB tripe

  • http://southisms.com Kim

    George Carlin once said, “If it’s a fetus, we call it a human being; if it’s an egg, we call it an omelet!”

    How ironic really. How people can arbitrarily decide if and when a thing is regarded as “living”. From a medical point of view, a fetus is a parasite. From a logical point of view, a fetus can’t be regarded as human because we never begun existing until we were BORN.

    What’s more ironic is the state of reproductive health in the Philippines: the abortion rate is high despite the fact its illegal. The last time I went to the uplands, women already have their “alternative” means of abortificents. It’s so sad, they ingest all these toxic chemicals so that they could choose to live their lives a certain way. There are some horrendous cases where they even use a hanger. It’s best to legalize abortion to keep these women SAFE and mind you there are a lot of them.

    If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a holy sacrament.

    Kims last blog post..Long gone the days of Urban to these day’s Rap, Hip-hop, RnB tripe

  • http://www.dabawenyangiska.com tiara

    ‘a fetus is a parasite’

    I like it! hehe.

    True. In one of the red light districts here in the city, sex workers would actually dilute Tide, a detergent solution, in water and drink it after they have sex. Most of them believe that the solution protects them from contracting STDs.

  • http://callcentermomie.blogspot.com/ Enid

    Hi there! Thanks for dropping I hope you did not have any problems with my EC. I like your entries you seem to have great conviction as evident on your article. I am not saying I am with you on this topic but I can say that you do have a point. As more and more children are coming out in the open being battered by their own flesh and blood then this is a matter that should be resolved first and taken into consideration by both the Church and the Government.

    Enids last blog post..Problem with my site’s Entrecard