Why Filipinos Must Fight RH Bill

I got this handout from the recent pro-life rally at the PICC grounds and I believe this is at the heart of the 'real' issue.

Why Bible-Believing, Marriage-Loving, Family-Oriented Filipinos Must Be Against the Consolidated RH Bill of the 15th Congress
(To Be Known As The Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2011)

By Bishop REUBEN M. ABANTE, DD

I have read the Consolidated RH Bill which is to be known as The Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2011.

It is clear to me that this Bill intends to address the following issues that confront our country and people:

* Population growth
* Poverty
* Maternal death
* Violence Against Women
* Child Mortality
* AIDS and HIV
* Abortion (along with unwanted pregnancies)

Among the significant solutions offered by the Bill are:

* The inclusion of Family Planning Supplies as Essential Medicines and which leads to the Procurement, Distribution of the same to the Local Government and for the Whole Country (Sec 10, 11).

This clearly refers to the procurement of the National Government of supplies (as condoms, contraceptives and artificial methods) and the distribution of the same to all Filipinos in the whole country.

The Definition of Terms (Sec 4) of the Bill does not specifically define “Family Planning Supplies” but it does refer to “a full range of safe, legal, affordable, effective and modern methods of limiting and spacing pregnancy” (para h). The “modern methods” refers to safe, effective and legal methods, whether the natural, or artificial that are registered with the Food and Drug Administration or the Department of Health” (para n)

* The teaching of Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education to students starting from Grade Five up to Fourth Year High School both public and private schools, including out-of-school youth and those in the Alternative Learning Systems (Sec 16).

I am a Christian Filipino. As such, I respect the Bible, the Word of God, and the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. May I thus cite some references that guide my convictions as a Christian Filipino:

Ps 127:1 Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it… (KJV)

Heb 13:4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (NKJV)

1 Cor 7:9 but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. (NKJV)

Eph 5:31-32 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery… (KJV)

The Philippine Constitution states:

Article XV, THE FAMILY

Section 1. The State recognizes the Filipino family as the foundation of the nation. Accordingly, it shall strengthen its solidarity and actively promote its total development.

Section 2. Marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the FOUNDATION OF THE FAMILY and shall be protected by the State.

The Consolidated RH Bill does not promote nor protect Marriage. What it does promote are “natural and modern methods of family planning that are medically safe and legal” and “medically safe, legal, accessible, affordable and effective services and supplies.” There is no mention in the bill that the authors RECOGNIZE the Constitutional provision that “Marriage is the Foundation of the Family.”

The fact is, the Bill undermines the Institution of Marriage and endangers the Filipino Family. It subtly brings about a culture that marriage is not needed to do safe and enjoyable sex and even children. Nowhere in the Bill do the authors uphold the Biblical principle and the Filipino values that sex should come within the context of marriage! They aim to teach sex education to Grade Five pupils rather than teach marriage as a foundation of the family. They aim to procure contraceptives and condoms and distribute them to everyone without due regard to marriage as an institution.

Marriage is not simply a church doctrine. It is wrong to say that marriage is a matter of the church. If it is, then mayors, judges and ship captains should not at all perform marriage ceremonies! They are not the Health Care Providers who should only be made aware and trained to support families. They are the ministers, mayors, judges and all officials who perform marriages who should be equipped to give proper counsel to all who get married and start families.

Moreover, they are not teachers or health workers who can best understand the physical well-being of the children – but their own parents. They are the ones who should be taught parenting and be made aware of issues that confront their children. Let us not infringe into the sacredness and autonomy of the Filipino family!

Joel 1:3, “Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. (NKJV)

This author is convinced that the Promotion and Protection of Marriage as an Institution (along with proper counsel) shall address whatever the Consolidated RH Bill intends to address!

* MARRIAGE (along with proper counsel) PROTECTS WOMEN.

Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. (KJV)

Eph 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. (KJV)

Eph 5:33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. (KJV)

Col 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. (KJV)

1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. (KJV)

It is Christian Filipino values for husbands to be at the side of their wives not just through her pregnancy and delivery but lifetime – For better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness or health, joy or sorrow… God designed marriage to protect women.

* MARRIAGE (along with proper counsel) ANSWERS POVERTY.

1 Tim 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (NKJV)

2 Cor 12:14 …For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. (NKJV)

What man who marries does not plan for his home and future? In most cases, those who have been stricken with poverty are couples who have not been taught the proper counsel in marriage.

What comes with marriage is Responsibility. If we promote a society that teaches safe sex without marriage, that distributes condoms and contraceptives even to the unmarried, we promote a next generation that will not know responsibility and values and one which will have no regard for marriage. It is a known fact that all countries which have adopted contraception as a way of life have drastically dwindled in number of marriages.

* MARRIAGE (along with proper counsel) ANSWERS POPULATION GROWTH.

What couple who plan to get married would not talk about having the right number of children who they can sustain and support? In most cases, most “unwanted” children come by relationships outside marriage – be they pre-marital or extra-marital. But if we have a society and a law that actively promote and protect marriages, this issue will be addressed and with a definite cooperation of the church and the state. Needless to say, most cases of abortion also come by relationships outside marriage.

If we really believe in the right of the child to live, then we should also believe in the right of the child to enjoy a good name, have a father and a mother, a home, legal privileges – and all that comes with marriage!

I was talking to a friend Muslim. He said, “In Islam, we can have as many as four wives and have as many children. But the basis for such is the man should be able to sustain and support them. It is that of having the proper view of marriage. It is a being responsible husbands and fathers. We do not simply want to have children. We want to get married and have well-sustained children.”

* MARRIAGE (along with proper counsel) PROTECTS FROM HIV/AIDS.

It is quite obvious – most men and women who contract HIV/AIDS have not considered the values that come with marriage!

What the Consolidated RH Bill lacks is a provision that actively promotes and protects marriage as an institution. Unless and until this Biblical principle and Filipino values are provided, I am convinced that the Consolidated RH Bill must be rejected!


Bishop REUBEN M. ABANTE, DD

reuben.abante@gmail.com