CBCP ramps up lobby vs RH bill
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/14/2008 10:54 PM
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The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Friday said the reproductive health bill is "dangerous" to family stability, citing "fatal flaws" that are contrary to the Catholic Church's teachings.
In a pastoral statement read before the media this afternoon, the bishops made an unequivocal declaration that though the bill has a number of good points, some parts of it have fatal flaws that are contrary to Church’s teachings and pose serious threats to family stability.
The stand was issued in a special meeting Friday at the Pope Pius XII Center.
The statement lauded positive issues in the bill, specifically maternal, infant and child health and nutrition, promotion of breastfeeding, adolescent and youth health, and the elimination of violence against women, among others, but explicitly denounced provisions they found unacceptable.
“It is our collective discernment that the bill in its present form poses a serious threat to life of infants in the womb. It is a source of danger for the stability of the family. It places the dignity of womanhood at great risk,” the statement read.
Even as they recognized the right of government to legislate laws, the bishops urged that there should not be "separation between God and Man in enacting them."
“We appeal to our legislators to state in the bill in clear categorical terms that human life from the moment of conception is sacred. We appeal to our legislators to insure that the bill recognized, preserve and safeguard freedom of conscience and religion. The bill must inspire parents not only to be responsible but to be heroic in their God-given and Sate-recognized duty of parenting. Without these conditions, the bill if enacted into law will separate our nation from Almighty God,” the bishops' statement said.
The pastoral statement also clarified the ambiguities they found in the bill since it does give a clear definition “when protection of life begins.”
It is feared that this ambiguity can provide an excuse for the use of contraceptives that stop the implantation of a fertilized ovum, which constitutes abortion.
The statement also pointed some provisions that go against one’s freedom of conscience such as: the Reproductive Health Education curriculum being taught in both private and public schools; mandating employers to provide reproductive health care services to their employees and penalizing anyone who may talk about morality for malicious disinformation.
The bishops urged the bill’s proponents to look beyond demography but more on health and family development.
They also reiterated that since its people are the greatest asset of the nation, “effective family health care services must be given primacy to ensure the birth and care of healthy children and to promote responsible and heroic parenting.”
“Respect for, protection and fulfillment of family health rights seek to promote not only the rights and welfare of adult individuals and couples but those of adolescents’ and children’s as well,” the statement concluded.
Bishop Socrates Villegas said they are ready for a dialogue regarding the bill, and that they are hoping that the members of the House of Representatives are also ready.
Bishop Teodoro Bacani added that congressmen who do not agree with their stand will be "evangelized", after which they would try to meet with them to discuss the matter.
The bishops added they won't immediately deny a dissenter communion, but will "confront" them with "questions for their conscience."
Bishop Villegas, chair of Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education read the statement together with Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, chair of Episcopal Commission on Family and Life and Bishop Bacani, bishop-emeritus of Novaliches. -- With a report from Timi Nubla, ABS-CBN News
