Church held rally against artificial birth control

by: Dharel Placido

Firm in its decision to denounce the passing of the bill that will legalize abortion, prescribe artificial birth control methods, and promote sex education among children, the church held “Rally for Life” at the University of Santo Tomas last July 25. The event was also in celebration of the 40^th year of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae which was released at the onset of the proliferation of contraceptions during the 60’s.

Present in the event were Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President Archbishop Angel Lagdameo and Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales along with priests and religious from different dioceses and archdioceses and students from catholic schools all over the country.

The event was held at the height of the issue concerning the Consolidated Reproductive Health Bill whose principal author was Representative Edcel Lagman of Albay along with 40 other representatives. The church believes that the bill will create the “dream machine for the culture of death.

Archbishop Lagdameo, in his homily said, “We will surpass poverty if we will help each other, destroying the gift of life is not the solution.” He also emphasized that the real problem is “population implosion” and not “population explosion,” citing some negative effects of a decreasing population in some countries.

Lagdameo also cleared out that the church does not totally forbid family planning as long it follows the natural method. He also stressed that even population management is not forbidden even its aim is to increase or decrease the population, as long as it respects the dignity and free-will of the couple and the laws of the church.

“If the Filipino family is destroyed, the society will be destroyed, too,” said Lagdameo, pointing that artificial birth control will only lower the morality of couples and respect for women.

One of the speakers in the event was Ligaya Acosta, a former employee of Department of Health (DOH), claimed the negative effects of artificial birth control methods to the physical and psychological being of a person. She also pointed out the moral damages that could be brought by the provision of the bill that will require elementary students to take up sex education.

In observance of the event, classes all over the university have been suspended to encourage the student to join. However, some students of the university did not seem to agree with what the church is fighting for. Bryan Tayco, a fourth year Legal Management student said, “I am okay with the bill since there is a strong need for us to control the population to alleviate poverty.”

“More people mean more mouth to feed which requires having more jobs that are decent and high-paying. That is not going to happen in country anytime soon,” said Dominic Pascual who admitted to agree with the bill.

During the event, Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales called every couple to practice discipline when it comes to sex, and to consider the value of life, human dignity and morality when planning a family.