Megan+Panopio+on+RH+Bill

There are too many personal feelings in the way whenever I think about the Reproductive Health Bill. For one, I am for it, but second--the church, whom I am obliged to obey, isn't. The church, well my own parish priest, once talked about the Reproductive Health Bill. He said that the pills, contraceptives, and whatever there is that exists to prevent birthing is a sin. Not that the idea escapes me of course. Sometimes I still think that the Philippines is better off prioritizing education and budgetary amounts but the facts have to be faced sooner or later--"Thousands of Filipino women continue to die due to complications related to childbirth" (IRIN News, 2009). So many people continue to die due to the lack of food, health services, money, and education, that the easiest way out is to grant them the Reproductive Health Bill. Although it doesn't sound right when you come to think about it but, yet again, we have to face the fact that:

1. Not everyone can afford education therefore, 2. Not everyone can cope the way others can.



What do I mean by this? It means that not everyone can be educated enough to control themselves nor commit to natural family planning. They can't be blamed though for the teachings of the Church, especially that of the Philippines is strict, old-fashion, and as witnessed through the years of history, have had a strong voice of power in politics.



// Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes, who previously headed the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission for the Biblical Apostolate (CBCP-ECBA), said, **"What is approved by people does not mean it is approved by God."** //



I can't quite fight through the meaning of those words because even I myself am torn between moral, virtue, and my own ideals.

Once, I was watching the news on CNN. The reporter, who I wish I had remembered her name, talked about the law being the absolute definitive point to obey. Without laws, the world would be in mess. It exists to bring order to people, and I believe that the law of the Philippines SHOULD bring order to her people as well. But now that we come to think about it, the law doesn't look as if it comes to do so. It looks as if the law is playing it's own little power-hungry approach towards its people to a point that lives have become at risk.



I truly believe that the Reproductive Health Bill should be implemented. Secondly, this does not mean that the church should change its side--it just means that it should be the guiding force of telling the people to do what is right so that finally, it is at the citizen's discretion whether he or she will need the Reproductive Health Bill in the first place. If he or she agrees to not commit to pre marital sex or to commit to natural family planning, then no one's stopping them. The Reproductive Health Bill serves as an alternative that even the church should consider especially while facing these times of need.