RH Bill is good as dead, for now

CEBU, Philippines - The Human Life International-Pilipinas is thankful to 25 staunch pro-life congressmen headed by House Deputy Speaker and Cebu City north district Rep. Raul del Mar for their dedication and courage to fight against the passage of Reproduction Health Bill, which was no longer tackled at the end of the 14th Congress this February.

“But the war and threats are not over as the bill is expected to be filed again for the 4th time once the 15th Congress resumes by June. Thus what we can do is to ensure that we will have a pro-life president and that majority of the senators and congressmen must be sympathetic to our cause,” HLI-Pilipinas country director Rene Josef Bullecer said.

Cebu Sixth District Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, one of the staunch advocates for the passage of the controversial bill insisted that it is pro-life and does not advocate abortion.

Soon-Ruiz, a doctor by profession, said that she is not changing her stand as changing it would mean that indeed the bill is pro-abortion.

“I am a physician and I firmly believe that RH bill is pro-life as it protects our women and children,” she stressed.

The controversial bill was not tackled until the last day of session of the 14th Congress and pro-life advocates even branded the non-passage of the bill as a “triumph of good versus evil.”

The RH Bill aims to uphold and promote respect for life, informed choice, birth spacing and responsible parenthood in conformity with internationally recognized human rights standards.

It is also aimed to guarantee universal access to medically-safe, legal and quality reproductive health care services and relevant information even as it prioritizes the needs of women and children.

According to Rep. Edcel Lagman (First District of Albay), one of the proponents of the bill, the measure is not coercive but gives couples the freedom to decide whether or not to plan their families or space, or limit the number of their children.

“Those who decide to plan their families also have the freedom to choose what method of contraception is best suited for them. The so called “two child policy” is voluntary, not compulsory; suggestive, not coercive; and absolutely not punitive. It is not even a policy. It is a suggested ideal or norm,” the bill stated.

It even clarified that the bill does not only protect the life of the unborn from the moment of implantation but that of the mother as well. Hence, it seeks to promote the reproductive health of women basically through massive and sustained information campaign on reproductive health rights, care, services and facilities coupled with universal access to all methods of family planning ranging from the natural to the modern which are medically safe and legally permissible.

Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal earlier had said that he is willing to be in prison if it would mean defending the doctrines of the Catholic Church.

“Yes, I am willing to be in jail. It is my duty to defend the doctrines of the Catholic Church,” said Vidal, who has been pushing for the abolition of the RH Bill as he hoped then that the bill will not just be scrapped but “will be dead.” — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/WAB (THE FREEMAN)