Outside pressure

If the House of Representatives has really come up with a “new” RH bill as recently reported, then said bill should pass through the usual legislative process by first referring it to the proper committee/s that will conduct hearings before it is submitted to the floor for first, second and final reading. This is quite a long process rendering it almost farfetched to have said new bill approved before the end of the year.

The new bill supposedly incorporates everything agreed upon by the bill’s proponents and oppositors. But considering the firm and diametrically opposed positions of the two sides during all the years that the bill has been deliberated upon since it was first introduced in the early ’90s, it is also quite improbable that they could have arrived at a common ground.

Obviously, the latest RH bill from the Lower House is not an entirely new bill. It is the same bill originally crafted by foreign lobbyists working through local Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) particularly the Philippine Legislative Council for Population Development (PLCPD) and the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP). It has only undergone several changes from the time it was first introduced here apparently to insure its passage by sugar coating the objectionable portions, the latest of which are these recent changes.

Even with so many sugar coatings the prime objective and essence of the RH bill as originally conceived is still for population control with the use of contraceptives purportedly to solve poverty. No less than its principal sponsor in the Lower House, Congressman Edcel Lagman, has confirmed that the new bill “does not delete its essence”. It has the same objective being aggressively pushed by international groups which are foremost abortion advocates like the International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and by UN agencies promoting population control like the United Nations Fund for Population and Development (UNFPA) and the USAID through its Millenium Development Goals (MDG).

This prime objective is still present even if the bill has undergone several changes to make it less objectionable. “Population control” is now family planning in exercise of “responsible parenthood”. Contraceptive use is not compulsory but an exercise of the “freedom of choice” purportedly to promote women’s reproductive health by preventing complications and death during pregnancy and childbirth, illegal abortions and sexually transmissible diseases (STDs). But as repeatedly pointed out before, compelling evidence consisting of statistics all over the world show that contraceptives are inherently evil because of their pernicious effects particularly the rise in abortion rates, the spread of STDs to epidemic levels and serious health problems caused on women and children like chronic diseases and cancer. They have exactly the opposite effect on what they supposedly meant to solve.

Based on the news report, the latest version of the bill from the House of Representatives will allegedly exclude contraceptives that would impede the process of fertilization or conception and those that will obstruct the implantation of the fertilized egg as determined by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). If this is correct then all contraceptives will be excluded because all of them either prevent fertilization or obstruct the implantation of the fertilized ovum as already proven by medical science. There is nothing more for the FDA to determine. Indeed this new version empowering the FDA to determine which contraceptives to allow or disallow gives too much leeway and discretion to this agency on such vital matter affecting the life and health of Filipinos. It may even constitute an undue and unnecessary delegation of legislative power since the new version of the bill itself virtually bans all contraceptives already.

Besides giving the FDA too much leeway and discretion on this matter may also be the source of more graft and corruption in the government. The new bill would make it easier for big pharmaceutical companies to lobby for the approval of their contraceptive products and supplies. And if the FDA happens to approve contraceptives that eventually result in abortion, its officials can even escape liability for such criminal act on the ground that they are just exercising the power given them by the law.

All told, the new bill all the more shows that it is not really necessary. It is not necessary to appropriate P14 billion to purchase contraceptives that may not after all be allowed since there are enough scientific findings that all of them either prevent fertilization or obstruct the implantation of a fertilized ovum. And it is not necessary to still empower the FDA to determine which contraceptives to allow because statistics all over the world show that all contraceptives have pernicious effects on life and health.

Even portions of the bill outlining measures for maternal health, emergency services, obstetric care, training of midwives and barangay health officials on reproductive health care can already be done without this bill. Besides, these measures are already covered by the Magna Carta for Women previously passed by Congress.

There are indeed many other more important matters and problems in our country that PNoy and our legislators should be more concerned about than this foreign imposed bill that has only caused and will continue to cause so much division and discord in our country. It’s about time for our leaders to finally hold off this outside pressure exerted by international groups and foreign governments particularly the US Obama administration  out to impose their population control policy through abortion.

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