I recently came across a poster on Tumblr.com with a tagline that says: “When Reproductive Health Bill becomes a law, it can result in what we call D.E.A.T.H.S.” It then went on and on that legalizing the bill will result to divorce, euthanasia, abortion, two-child policy, homosexuality and same-sex marriage (thus the aforementioned acronym). At the very end it said, “If we care, we should think.”
First of all, I am neither a medical student nor a law student. I am a writer, and admittedly, while I mostly understand the RH Bill, there are parts of it that go over my head. And even though I know that the bill has its flaws and there are parts of it that I do not agree with, I am still in favor of it. Why?
“If we care, we should think?” Clearly someone is not thinking. Divorce and euthanasia were not mentioned in the bill. As for abortion, it is clearly stated in Section 3m that abortion is still a criminal, punishable act. It also says that the RH Bill seeks to prevent abortion in Section 4g #1 in the definition of the term “Reproductive Health Care.” And while it lists two children as the ideal family size in Section 16, it also states that “attaining the ideal family size is neither mandatory nor compulsory. No punitive action shall be imposed on having more than two children.” The bill intends to increase awareness on contraceptives, but it is not enforcing the two-child policy at all. Overpopulation in the country is very real, but still, you can have a dozen of kids and procreate all you want, and the government will not question you.
And while we are on the topic of contraceptives, many anti-RH Bill people say that contraceptives promote more sex, and that more sex equals decreased morality. Contraceptives and casual sex have been around forever. Morality has been compromised time and time again. It doesn’t automatically follow that contraceptives will lead to casual sex and decreased morality. I’ve known about contraceptives since I was in sixth grade, and I don’t engage in casual sex. I also know friends who won’t even kiss a guy because they are saving it on their wedding day. It only goes to show that the existence of contraceptives does not affect someone’s principles.
It baffles me that homosexuality is even included in that poster. Can someone enlighten me on what is wrong with homosexuality? Is it because a passage in the Old Testament says so? Well, the Bible also says that you can’t wear clothes made of mixed fibers (Leviticus 19:19) so you better check the tags before you buy anything at Forever 21. You can’t touch a woman who has her period or else you will be considered unclean (Leviticus 15:19-20) so don’t hug your mommy or your sister or your girlfriend when she has her period. See? We don’t follow those.
I have a lot of gay friends and they are some of the most talented, kindest, most loyal people I know. They are good people. If there is anything we should learn from the Bible, it is not to judge people who are different from us just because they are different from us. Christianity calls us to be Christ-like. Tell me honestly, what do you think Christ would do?
And lastly, it stated in the poster that if a priest refuses to marry a homosexual couple, the couple will have a power to demand the priest to court and file a case. Now, the debate on same-sex marriage is very broad and may constitute an even longer debacle than the RH Bill, but I hope that the maker of the poster would realize that nobody would expect a priest to marry a homosexual couple – let alone penalize him. Homosexual marriage is clearly against the teachings of the Catholic Church, and believe it or not, the state respects religion. Does civil marriage ring a bell?
I used to be a debater and I love rebuttals from people who don’t agree with where I stand on. Believe me, I respect differences in opinions a lot more than ordinary people do but the poster just screamed bigotry. Whoever made that clearly isn’t well-informed of what he is arguing about. Can somebody send him a copy of the bill please?
Read the full text of the controversial RH Bill here.
Disclaimer: This is an article I submitted to my prof last semester regarding the controversial bill. I know several friends who are against the bill and I respect everyone's opinions -- I just saw this document while cleaning up my drive and I decided to share this. :)
