Women Relieved As ‘RH’ Law
Takes Effect
By AFP
January 17, 2013, 6:17pm
MANILA, Philippines
--- A controversial birth control law came into effect Thursday after more than
a decade of bitter opposition from the influential Catholic Church, with women
saying the change came as a relief.
The government is
still threshing out how to implement the law, which proponents say will help
moderate the nation’s rapid population growth, reduce poverty, and bring down
high maternal mortality.
But Catholic groups
have already shifted their battle to the courts, questioning the law’s
constitutionality. The church, which counts 80 percent of Filipinos as
followers, disallows the use of artificial contraceptives.
A group of women
lining up for contraceptives at a non-governmental organization’s health center
in a slum area of Manila said the change of law came as a relief.
Housewife Nerissa
Gallo, 44, who has already had 16 children, said it would bring contraceptives
into the reach of the poor.
She broke into tears
as she recalled the difficulty she has faced in raising her children, four of
whom died after suffering from diarrhea.
Asked about the
church’s opposition, she said: “We don’t pay attention to that. They are not
the ones who are giving birth again and again. We are the ones who have to find
a way to care for the children.”
The medical charity
Merlin praised the law as a “milestone” but said more efforts were needed to
make sure it was properly implemented.
“There is likely to
be cultural opposition... led by religious conservatives, which could make it
hard for clinics to offer services,” country director, MaximePiasecki, said.
But the historic
Responsible Parenthood law (popularly known as Reproductive Health (RH) law)
came too late for Rosalie Cabenan, a housewife who has given birth 22 times.
Frail, with a
leathery face streaked with wrinkles, 48-year-old Cabenan suffers from
untreated gall stones and constant fatigue because her body has never had the
time to properly recover from her successive pregnancies.
“We only wanted
three children. But they kept coming and coming,” Cabenan told AFP this week at
her ramshackle home in Baseco, a massive slum in Manila where more than 60,000
people compete for space.
“I was always
pregnant and there was no time to take care of myself because I had to keep
working to help my husband feed the children. I have tried everything, a
stevedore (dock worker), a laundry woman, fish monger and a vegetable seller.”
Cabenan had her
first child when she was just 14. When she nearly died giving birth to her
youngest, who is now six, she finally abandoned the demands of the Catholic
Church to not use contraceptives.
A devout Catholic
who still goes to mass twice a week, Cabenan nevertheless regrets following the
church dogma so strictly and said she welcomed the Responsible Parenthood Law
that officially took effect.
The law requires
government health centers to hand out free condoms and birth control pills,
benefiting tens of millions of the country’s poor who would not otherwise be
able to afford or have access to them.
It also mandates
that sex education be taught in schools and public health workers receive
family planning training, while post-abortion medical care has been made legal
for the first time.
“I tell women now,
please do not be like me. I have too many children, and sometimes I do not know
what to do and just cry, especially when they fight,” she said.
President Aquino
signed the bill into law last month in the face of strong lobbying by the
Catholic church, and religious leaders have vowed that the fight is not over.
The church is now relying
on lay groups that have filed petitions with the Supreme Court questioning the
constitutionality of the law, said Roy Lagarde, a spokesman for the country’s
Catholic bishops.
The bishops will
hold a regular meeting this weekend where measures to oppose the law will be
discussed, he added.
The law’s chief
author Congressman EdcelLagman said he was confident the court would uphold the
change.
“We have long
expected that the opposition will go to the Supreme Court. We have prepared for
this eventuality,” he told AFP.
Although took effect
as of Thursday, Hazel Chua, an official at the Health Department’s family
planning unit, said they were still preparing implementation rules and
regulations, which will only be released in April.
Under the law,
government health centers will have to have a supply of contraceptives, unlike
in the past when local mayors could be intimidated by the church into not
providing birth control services, she said.
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/390100/women-relieved-as-rh-law-takes-effect#.US5ZDaLql5g
Reproductive
Health Bill
The
Philippines is facing again a very serious issue that affects moral values and
its culture. This is really a very serious issue and could really change
the life of every Filipino, Issue pertaining to Reproductive Health Bill.Many
Filipinos are very naive about this and most probably has no idea of what
possible effects that could destroy our true Filipino morality with the concern
of reproduction and sex. Religious groups and organizations opposed this
bill, and so with the few conservative Filipinos, but for those whose minds
were twisted by only on politics and business, they thought that to reduce
poverty is through population control.
One of the most controversial bills pending in Congress,
primarily brought about by the strong and active opposition by the Roman
Catholic Church, is the Reproductive
Health Bill. This is not the first time that a proposed law on reproductive
health has been filed in Congress and the bills were not uniformly referred to
as the Reproductive Health Bill or RH
Bill, which term is used basically for convenience to refer to bills of similar
nature.
The RH Bill is controversial because the Catholic Church is
vehemently opposed to any legalization of birth control or discussion of family
planning. The opponents of the bill have spread a large number of myths and
tried to make people afraid that the bill would make abortion legal and cause
immoral behavior. They also claim
this bill will lead to abortion on demand, and that even criticizing the bill
could result in fines or penalties. In their view, the RH Bill would thus
diminish religious freedom. That is why the Catholic Church has delayed this
bill from even coming to a vote for nearly a decade.
This controversial Reproductive Health Law is set to effect
after more than a decade of bitter opposition from the influential Catholic
Church, with woman saying the change come as a relief. President Benigno Aquino
III signed the measure last December 21, 2012.
Today, we all know that many women giving birth in their
young age because of their young age they don’t ready for the sequences of
being a young wife and young mother for their children. Many women got pregnant
at the minor age and when they turn in to the legal age they have many children
they giving birth many times so some of them use contraceptives to control
unwanted pregnancy.
This article show that many women like Rosalie Cabenan giving
birth many times and because she has no time to take care of herself she suffer
from different illness and also she has no enough time to take care of their
children equally. Behind of this controversial Reproductive Health Law some
clinic in different places gives free condoms’ and birth control pills for the
people who need it, but the church disapprove giving this king of
contraceptives because for Catholic Church this is abortion. We all know that
abortion is killing one’s life.
Some of the people and the government agencies agree with
this law because of them this is the one way to moderate the nation’s rapid
population growth, to reduce poverty, and to bring down high maternal
mortality.
For me, when they say “Reproductive Health Law” or “RH Law” I
depend on the agree side. I agree with this law because like the other people
say this law helps the government, this law requires our government health
centers to hand free condoms and birth control pills for unwanted pregnancy of
the women around. Sex education will be taught in schools and public workers
receive family planning training while post- abortion medical care has been
made legal for the first time.
Listen to the music of other countries and learned to sing one song. Video record yourself singing it. Post the lyrics.
First
love
By
: Utada Hikaru
Saigono
kissu wa
Tabako
no flavor gashita
Nigakute
setsunai kaori
Ashita
no imagoro ni wa
Anata wa
doko ni irun darou'
Dare wo
omotte 'run darou'
You are
always gonna be my love
Itsuka
dare kato mata koi ni ochitemo
I'll
remember to love
You
taught me how
You are
always gonna be the one
Imawa
mada kanashii love song
Atarashi
uta utaeru made
Tachidomaru
jikan ga
Ugoki
dasou to shiteru
Wasuretakunai
koto bakari
Ashita
no imagoro ni wa
Watashi
wa kitto naiteru
Anata wo
omotte 'run darou'
Yay yay
yeah
You will
always be inside my heart
Itsumo
anata dake no basho ga aru kara
I hope
that I have a place in your heart too
Now and
forever you are still the one
Imawa
mada kanashii love song
Atarashii
uta utaeru made
You are
always gonna be my love
Itsuka
dare kato mata koi ni ochitemo
I'll
remember to love
You
taught me how
You are
always gonna be the one
Mada
kanashii love song yeah
Now
& forever ah...
