Interesting topic! While I have not thoroughly read the bill and have pushed myself away from the sidelines of the debate, in fact shunning away from it but eavesdropping at conversations on the radio and television, I secretly maintain the position that women should be responsible for their reproductive health. But I am troubled by the fact that in this country responsibility is an expensive commodity like gas.
The Dichotomy: Responsible Women Vs Ir-responsible Women. In this country, I cannot help but force the women into two dichotomies, one the schooled and responsible the other the unschooled and the ones-who-do-not-know-what-responsibility even is. The first group does not need any RH bill or any government or church to dictate on their number of children. They know the right thing to do, they manage their health, they control the number of children and dictate their future. They are responsible mothers who knowing that their children will be the future stewards of the country , rear them with care and affection, provide them the basic necessities, teach them the right values, and give them education. With this group we are assured of better seeds. But the second group, bring nothing but children we see knocking on car windows begging for alms, or juvenile delinquents, the stow-away rugby boys, the emaciated children who can hardly eat who will become parents in the future and rearing the same children under the same conditions, the homeless children sleeping on the streets all their lives who would become criminals in the future and who are also likely to raise criminals in the future. Are these not also a violation to the sanctity of life, to bear children who in the end will be left on the streets? What is more morally right to control conception or allow hundreds of impoverished children to die alive in the pain of poverty?
Impoverished Minds. The sad and shameful fact is that the Philippine’s average intelligence quotient ranks lower than its Southeast Asian counterparts and the guilty offender is poverty and culture. And it is the very same thing that brings so many children on this part of the earth. And the same children will raise the same children with the same circumstances. That level of mental ability cannot in any way contribute to national productivity, they will forever be painful national burdens. That is the harsh picture of reality. The church says, if the RH bill is implemented it proliferates immorality? It seems to me that what the church is telling everyone is that it is better to be poor than immoral. So that means that in the heat of the debate Filipinos are left to choose between poverty and immorality. I choose the latter. If RH bill encourages sin then I’d rather sin and manage my fertility and raise fewer and happier and healthier children who would become productive citizens. Than become poor and have many children and you know the implications as discussed earlier.
Harsh Punishments for Offenders. The RH Bill however cannot be implemented without any sanctions given to offenders. There should be harsh punishments meted to violators. I know its cruel and autocratic but that is the desperate solution for a desperate situation. The number of children in fact should be regulated, the punishment of which is death and the rewards, free social services and education. I know I am dreaming.
Chicken and Egg Dilemma. In addition to the question of the individual right to life, the issue on poverty often enters the picture. Whether we like it or not however, the discourse between population explosion and poverty is a chicken and egg dilemma. The poorer population has the most number of children, while the richer population has lesser numbers of children. While the poor wants more children for social security – more hands to help, more hands to beg for alms on the streets; the rich wants very few children to give them a better future. So this population thing, has indomitably, widened the gap between the rich and poor. And this is not good, because it will tear society apart. In this country, wealth is distributed in a pyramid. There are only a few on the upper rung of the socio-economic status, while a large mass is on the bottom. Because the larger percentage of the population has nothing, they take on the streets and the environment. When the environment is depleted they suffer directly from the violence of nature. And everyone blames anyone but themselves.
The Blaming Game. Are we going to fault the snobbish Roman Catholic church? If the church can feed the families and their impoverished children, am I going to applause? Are we going to point our finger at the corrupt government again and again. Blaming is a satisfying but defeatist game. But knowing the government and the church there is no escaping the fact that we are left to fend for ourselves. That’s being cynical. The richer and more responsible child-bearing women have the liberty to decide for themselves responsibly but the poorer women cannot. If the RH bill can inculcate poorer women of their reproductive responsibility then better. When I say reproductive responsibility that is from the time they decide to conceive and up to the time they mother a child and send them to college.
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