Miriam backs Cabral on reproductive health

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago backed yesterday Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral in her stand favoring the Reproductive Health Bill that espouses artificial contraception.

In a statement, Santiago said the individual has the right to use artificial contraception like condoms.

“The Catholic religious should get real,” she said.

Santiago said that the Catholic Church’s stand on natural contraception is outdated and archaic.

The “natural-law mentality” of the Church in the Middle Ages prohibited many advances in medical science, she added.

Santiago said in 1966, a Papal commission reported that the conjugal act must be viewed in the larger context of human love, family life, and education.

“This is the principle of totality,” she said. “Sexuality is not meant only for procreation.”

The final report of the Papal Birth Control Commission and the Vatican 2 pointed out that the decision to have children must take into account the welfare of the spouses and their children, the material and spiritual conditions of the times, their state in life, the interests of the family group, of society, and of the Church, Santiago said. 

On the other hand, Sen. Pia Cayetano said President Arroyo should not close her eyes to the issue of population.

“It is unfair to impose the natural family planning method on the entire Philippines because obviously, Filipinos belong to various religions and adhere to different beliefs and practices,” she said.

Mrs. Arroyo’s stand on natural family planning denies the poor the right to make informed choices on family planning methods that are appropriate for them, Cayetano said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo Lacson called for a clearer government policy on population management.

He said his proposal for a two-child policy was not punitive but incentive-based.

And while abortion is continuously recognized as illegal and a criminal offense under the Revised Penal Code, he was at a loss why those who are anti-Reproductive Health bill claim it is “anti-life.”

Lacson said the problems of food security will reach an alarming level in the coming years because of high population growth.

“There’s not enough food on the table (or a) roof over our heads, even education is lacking for our present population,” he said.

Lacson said Mrs. Arroyo’s position on family planning is “political,” adding she seemed to have succumbed to “pressure from the Catholic Church and strong advocates against population management.”

Meanwhile, Romblon Rep. Eleandro Madrona is withdrawing his support from the Reproductive Health Bill, a Catholic bishop said yesterday.

Romblon Bishop Jose Corazon Talaoc said Madrona, House of Representatives committee on ethics and privileges chairman, who belongs to his diocese, is the second lawmaker to back out from the Reproductive Health and Population Control Bill pending in Congress. – With Evelyn Macairan