Is there a pain greater than the pain of the parent who cannot provide for his child? Millions of parents all over the world experience this pain due to poverty and hunger. They see their children go hungry, malnourished, sick, uneducated and later unemployed. These days, in our own country, millions of parents line up to buy a few kilos of cheap rice. If they were to buy the ordinary commercial rice, their children would go to bed hungry—or hungrier.

Obviously, the families with fewer children need less rice than the couples with many children. How ironic it then is at this difficult time in our country, when our government is forced to provide large-scale subsidy of rice, that organizations and individuals opposed to the recognition of the rights of couples to have access to complete information about modern family planning methods, have made their campaign even more vicious, hateful and deceitful than it usually is.

Telling the public that the Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008 is promoting abortion is a lie. Have we’ve forgotten that “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”? What the bill has to say about abortion is that “While nothing in this Act changes the law on abortion, as abortion remains a crime and is punishable, the government shall ensure that women seeking care for post-abortion complications shall be treated and counseled in a humane, non-judgmental and compassionate manner” (Guiding Principles, Section 3).

The sad fact is that hundreds of thousands of desperate Filipino women—most of them married mothers—seek illegal, unsafe abortions as the only means to keep a family size that they and their husbands can manage. The unavailability of safe, affordable and effective family planning methods is the major reason why so many women resort to abortions. Successful pro-life advocacy has become an effective pro-death campaign.

The bill seeks to give to individuals and couples what is actually a universal human right, especially in a democracy: the right to make informed choices on matters that impact on their lives, their physical and mental well-being, based on their own personal convictions and beliefs. “While the number and spacing of children are left to the sound judgment of parents and couples . . . such concerned parents and couples, including unmarried individuals, should be afforded free and full access to relevant, adequate and correct information on reproductive health and human sexuality and should be guided by qualified State workers and professional private practitioners,” the bill states.

The bill goes on to define “responsible parenthood,” a term that is widely used in today’s debate about family planning, but whose exact meaning is usually left hanging. The bill speaks of “the will, ability and commitment of parents to respond to the needs and aspirations of the family and the children more particularly through family planning.” Family planning is a tool for the couples to be able to remain responsible parents to the children that they have. Depriving couples of this tool weakens their ability to respond fully to the needs and aspirations of their children.

Knowledge is power, and the more people know about sex and reproductive health, the more they are in a position to make their own informed and responsible choices about these matters. Dr. José Rizal’s Message to the Young Women of Malolos reminds us that some sectors will always oppose enlightenment and the freeing of the Filipinos from the bondage of ignorance. Educating the youth about sex and sexuality does not promote pre-marital sex, teenage pregnancies, prostitution and STDs. Poverty, boredom and ignorance do.

The responsible, mature democratic State creates an environment in which citizens are contended and productive. Being able to provide for the needs of one’s children is one major factor in contentment. I cannot imagine there to be a greater happiness than seeing one’s children grow up happy and healthy. Not having children of my own, I will never experience that happiness myself, but I see the light in the eyes of parents when they talk about their happy children. Just like I feel the pain of the parent who knows that he or she is not capable of giving his child the happy and healthy life that every child deserves and needs. 

Source: The Manila Times, 22 July 2008