Sunday, June 5, 2011

More Misconceptions About the R.H. Bill


            I have discovered another article that discusses and clarifies some common misconceptions about the Reproductive Health Bill. Among these are several arguments about life that people often misinterpret. Some of the common misconceptions of the R.H. Bill are:


MISCONCEPTION #1: The RH Bill is anti-life and anti-family.

The RH Bill is pro-quality life for the whole family. It ensures that more children will grow up secure in the knowledge that they were wanted because their births were planned.

In response to the notion that the bill is anti-life and anti-family, Larah Lagman, chief of staff to Hon. Edcel Lagman of Albay, who authored and introduced House Bill 96 (the RH Bill) into Congress, pointed out that the RH Bill will help give people the knowledge and means to prevent unwanted pregnancy--not prevent pregnancy altogether.

MISCONCEPTION #2: The RH Bill is all about contraception.

Although family planning is a major proponent of the RH Bill, the bill also gives women the right of access to the appropriate health care services that ensure as safe a pregnancy and childbirth as possible. These same health care services should give couples the best chance of having a healthy infant.

MISCONCEPTION #3: The RH Bill is pro-abortion.

Under Philippine law, abortion is illegal. The RH Bill does not, in any way, legalize abortion.

MISCONCEPTION #4: The RH Bill will promote a contraceptive mentality, which could lead to a demographic winter.

If what is meant by "a contraceptive mentality that could lead to a demographic winter" is that people will want to stop having children, causing the end or endangerment of Filipinos as a race, Mother Nature herself will prove this patently untrue.

Since procreation is a biological imperative--in less fancy terms, couples won't stop wanting to have children simply because pills, condoms, and other contraceptives are made available to them.

MISCONCEPTION #5: The provisions in the RH Bill would never work in a Catholic country like the Philippines.

And yet, Lagman pointed out, countries with a larger Catholic population than our own push contraceptives, especially as a measure to discourage abortion. She named South American countries in particular, many of which are more than 90 percent Catholic. The Catholics of the Philippines, on the other hand, account for between 80 and 83 percent of the total population.

Besides which, proponents are quick to point out, the RH Bill does not force people to practice family planning. It only gives people the right to choose to if they wish it. Thus, those who believe that using modern forms of contraception is wrong will never be required to use them. As the expression goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.


Noticeably, most of these misconceptions are the main arguments made by those who are against the Reproductive Health Bill. Honestly, I believe that if these misconceptions are straightened out, less people will be opposed against the R.H. Bill. It R.H. Bill isn’t bad at all. The only reason why it is bad in the eayes of people is because they give the wrong meaning to it.


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