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The Reproductive Health Bill

MANILA, Philippines The Catholic Church is rallying people against the Reproductive Health Bill. The more we multiply like rabbits, the more the religious can muster followers to support their pet peeves. Time and again it has been asked: Why do the unmarried pretend to know more about sex and procreation than the married ones? *** China administered lethal injection to three Filipinos convicted of drug trafficking. No amount of appeal from Philippine officialdom could sway the Chinese from carrying out this grim task of eliminating drug offenders. The Philippines, which abolished the death penalty, has the biggest number of drug offenders, violators, lawbreakers, and crooks. *** Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines top honcho Ramon Gutierrez is set to buy bird-strike avoidance equipment for all eight major airports in the country. This is part of the Aquino administrations invitation to foreign air carriers to fly into those far-flung airports and not just at the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). The aim is to make those airports safe from the hazards of birds or bats being swallowed by airplanes engines. This is now a major problem all over the world due to numerous airplanes filling the sky. Foreign air carriers are accused of concentrating at the NAIA where they could poach on overseas Filipino workers and tourists. Local air carriers are asking for reciprocity from those countries who take advantage of our open sky policy. ***

The Reproductive Health Bill, popularly known as the RH Bill, aims to guarantee universal access to methods and information on birth control and maternal care. Majority support the RH Bill in endless surveys, while congressional and presidential debates have erupted on the issue. Why is there majority support for the RH Bill? Proponents present the main points: RH Bill protects the health and lives of mothers who die from unnecessary causes in childbirth by providing adequate number of skilled birth attendants and hospitals with emergency obstetric care. RH Bill responds to the majority who want smaller families to give their children more opportunities for education and better health. RH Bill promotes equity among poor families. Hospital-based family planning (FP) methods like ligation, vasectomy, and IUD insertion shall be available to prevent unintentional pregnancies. Proper birth spacing also reduces infant deaths. Abortions can decrease by 90 percent with using modern FP. Women needing care for post-abortion complications can seek treatment or consultation. RH Bill supports the millions of women needing prenatal, infant and postpartum care by providing more midwives, nurses, and doctors. RH Bill will support the improvement of many levels of health facilities. Strong RH facilities will be the backbone of a strong and fairly distributed public health facility system. RH Bill gives accurate and positive sexuality education to young people.
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