Kill Bill...Not!

I have been following this hotly-contested and controversial house bill for quite sometime now and carefully examining the pros and cons of having such enacted legislation in the Philippines, if eventually pass in Congress.

And yes, I support RH Bill 5043, the Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008.

I have read the full context of the bill here and I don’t see anything objectionable about it as it simply aims to give freedom and informed choice to everyone, especially women, poor families, and the youth, giving them free access to family planning options, promote pro-quality of life, sexual education, responsible parenthood, and enhance the country’s population policy as it is really becoming an overburden for the country and the rest of us living wisely and consciously about the economic ramifications of an uncontrollable and rapidly-growing population.

Like always though, it’s the implementation that I’m worried about. But still, I do hope members of Congress don’t kill this bill.

Instead, allow this very contentious bill to pass so that be given a chance “to take the bull by its horn” and do something about our ridiculously over-population of unwanted pregnancies, and uninformed uneducated but uber-sexually-active youths and poor sectors of our society.

Read this to give you some idea about it. Kill Bill later if it has not proven it’s worth.

It is really an uphill battle for proponents of this bill, going against the ultra-conservative (yeah, go forth and multiply) Catholic church exerting every effort to block it. Some opponents even say that this bill is anti-poor, and worst, say it advocates abortion while in reality it’s the opposite, based on my understanding.

I grew up in a big family and I know first-hand what it’s like sharing a piece of bread and a bowl of soup to everyone around the table. And trust me, if I can avoid it, I wouldn’t want to experience that life again as I believe poverty can be considered tragic.

Over-population, resulting into poverty, and of course corruption, are the main reasons why our so-beloved country Philippines can’t catch up with neighboring countries.

Life isn’t a lottery that the more you have tickets, or in this case, children, the more you have chances of winning.