austraLasia
1393
Philippines under
attack
MANILA: 16th January 2006 --
When we said, late last week (#1389, 13th), that Salesian Cooperators in the
Philippines were active in the pro-life movement, you might have wondered why
the Philippines, the most Catholic country in Asia and one of the most Catholic
in the world, one of the best educated populations too, in Asia, would need to
regard this issue as one of high priority. The result of a vote in the
Philippines parliament today, possibly taking place as this is being written,
may answer that question - a vote on 'reproductive health care' which is in fact
a vote for a 2 child policy.
This is what Filipino
Salesian Cooperators have been working against. The Bill was introduced in
the Philippines House of Representatives before Christmas. It goes to the
vote today. The Church has understandably been the strongest voice against the
proposed policy. If the bill is passed, it will be called, most likely,
the 'Responsible Parenthood and Population Management
Act'.
What would such a bill imply, say, for a Salesian
school? One of the provisions of the bill is that reproductive health care
information must be provided to all children within the education programme,
from class 5 onwards. Refusal to do so (there are possibilities for
exceptions on ethical or religious grounds, but these too are restrictive) can
result in fines or imprisonment up to 6 months. The provision of
abortifacients, contraceptives will become standard procedure, usually through
health care clinics which teenagers will have the right to visit without
parental consent. The bill will not penalise parents who choose to have
more than two children. Instead, negative incentives will be in place -
meaning the two-child families will receive benefits, those with more,
no.
How could such an approach come to pass in this
Catholic country? The ground has been well-prepared by international
organisations. One such is the International Planned Parenthood Foundation,
actually housed in the same premises as the House of
Representatives.
Clearly the matter raises many
questions. Education and health programmes in a country with the highest
population growth rate in the world (2.36% per annum) are inadequate. It
has long been popular to take the cause-effect argument along the too many-too
much poverty line. Another argument of course, could be the too much
poverty-bad government and policies line. Today might indicate whether or
not the House of Representatives in Manila is prepared to take the knife to some
of its own festering wounds rather than to its
families.
_______________________
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