Filipino Condom Pushers Are Terrorists

The Filipino government is once again up for a long and harsh fight against the Catholic church in a new attempt to pass a reproductive health bill that just entered Congress this week.

The bill would require the government to provide information on family planning methods for couples about to marry, require all government hospitals to include a full range of contraceptive surgeries and methods, make contraceptives available free of charge and introduce sex ed classes in schools. It would also forbid workplace discrimination against pregnant women, and encourage a two-child family, without stopping people from having more kids. Such a bill would help slow population growth, which is believed to be the source of the country’s poor economic state; About a third of the country’s 94 million people live on $1 a day.

Both parties for and against this bill are particularly determined to have their way. President Benigno Aquino III says he is ready to face excommunication from the Catholic Church in order for the bill to pass, which, in a country where 80 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, is not a light thing to announce. On the other hand, the Catholic church has history on its side; they’ve stopped various versions of this bill since 1998 and have the influential boxer Manny Pacquiao as a vocal supporter. They are also willing to conduct protests of civil disobedience should this bill pass.

Their main argument is that condoms are just as sinful as abortions, which are illegal in the Philippines. One Filipino bishop even went so far as to say that the bill’s supporters are “terrorists” because condoms are “tantamount to killing the innocent.”

But here is where their logic is flawed: condoms are there to prevent fecundation. There can’t be killing if nothing was created. Some bishops have asked for condoms to carry warning labels telling consumers that they create a false sense of security and encourage promiscuity.

Some might feel that way when wearing a condom but they are still the only tool that prevents both pregnancy and STD’s. That is why they are necessary, especially in the Philippines. An estimated 560,000 Filipino women seek abortions involving crude and painful methods every year, according to a report released by the Center for Reproductive Rights last year. About 90,000 of them suffer from complications and an estimated 1,000 die each year. And about 1.4 million people HIV positive in the Asia-Pacific region, which is twice as many people as 10 years ago.

But the church objects to the measures because “sex is not a game that should be taught to children” according to the Archbishop of Manila, Gaudencio Rosales. That’s where I fundamentally disagree. Being informed is the first step to being able to make smart decisions and not knowing the mechanics of sex is the best way to end up in an unsustainable family situation.

Independent opinion polls in recent years have showed that the public supports this kind of legislation and Aquino’s supporters have a majority in Congress, but it’s not in the bag. Debates are expected to go on until the end of the year.

Moral of this story: don’t take your free family planning condoms for granted.

Contact the author here: sedera@morningquickie.com