Sacred Institution

A LAW EACH DAY (KEEPS TROUBLE AWAY)
By Jose C. Sison
The Philippine Star
Monday, August 27, 2007

Also appears in the Philippine Star Website

Reactions to my articles on population control especially against artificial contraceptives always vary. They range from total agreement or conditional support, to critical rejection and indignant disapproval. This is alright. Freedom of expression is the essence of democracy where beliefs and ideas attain the badges of merit and validity in a free exchange of views and opinions. My only appeal to those who disagree is to stick to the issues and refrain from anger and personal attacks. Such reactions merely expose the bankruptcy of their position or betray a bothered conscience.

The aggressive campaign on Filipino families to use artificial birth control methods has apparently remained unabated and well financed. There is even a new approach employed by the USAID. It is threatening to totally phase-out their financial assistance to local government units (LGU) in the use of artificial family planning methods and/ or acquisition of contraceptive wares if no vigorous promotion is undertaken purportedly to allow couples the freedom of choice. Just as this campaign is unrelenting so will my objections be — not on the basis of my religious beliefs but in the interest of truth and on legal grounds.

Among the declared State policies found in our Charter is that it “recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution’ (Section 12, Article II). This means that a foreign group like the USAID or the UNFPA cannot just tell our local governments to use families as instruments in implementing their population control program. Asking the LGU to conduct a massive and aggressive information campaign on couples to use their artificial birth control methods, wares and instruments is a clear incursion into and an infringement of the family’s autonomy and the sanctity of family life protected by the Constitution.

It cannot be justified with the excuse that the government campaign covers all means of family planning where couples are given a free choice between natural and artificial birth control methods. The sanctity of family life recognized by the Charter covers all aspects including and especially the moral or spiritual life. This is quite obvious from the wordings of Section 3(1), Article XV of the Constitution which speaks of the “religious convictions” of couples in the exercise of their inherent right to raise their families. And that religious conviction tells them that preserving the integrity and wholeness of creation particularly human beings, is the Creator’s will; that the natural order of things must be observed. Hence the couples’ right to found a family in accordance with their religious convictions will be placed in jeopardy if the government, upon the prodding of foreign groups, forcibly conducts an information campaign advocating the chemical method like the use of pills, the mechanical method like the use of condoms, and surgical method like vasectomy and tubal ligation all of which tend to break the natural order of things especially in the reproductive system of human beings.

People do not have the freedom to choose something harmful to them and to society. Scientific research and actual experience have already proven the terrible pernicious effects of artificial contraceptives on women and children. Ms. Rona Abundo of Makati wrote about her own experience in this regard in reaction to my column on the subject. She said:

“I truly enjoyed reading your article today, the first time I ever read one of your articles as I often stick to just the front page and the World News. More should disabuse the minds of the public on the so-called ‘benefits’ of artificial birth control, especially the fact that they actually cause abortion. An intern friend showed us recently, pictures of babies confined at the PGH suffering from a missing nose, or a super-large water-filled head, or some other terrible head deformity, all caused by the pill. Indeed they should make selling of the pill a crime.

Someone who works for us went home last summer, to her remote barrio of Hindang, Southern Leyte, and reported that her cousins/sisters were either considering or already had had themselves injected with depo-provera in order to avoid being fertile (or so they believe) for several months. It seems very few realize the side effects that such drugs could have on the body.

Perhaps it would silence these artificial birth control advocates if pictures of side-effects to the mother, as well as birth deformities could be made easily available to the public”.

Blaming the Church on the alleged alarming population growth because it supposedly sees no need to limit such growth, is another error. Actually the Church is not against the spacing of births by the couples in the exercise of their inherent right to determine the size of the family as a way of coping with hardships in life and promoting their health and well being. To be sure, the Church exhorts couples to exercise responsible parenthood by practicing natural family planning methods. These are methods already proven to be more beneficial to the physical, spiritual and even the financial health of couples and their children as they entail little or no expense. Ms Sheila Kippley from far away Canada wrote about one such natural family planning method also in reaction to my article. She said:

“God does have a plan for spacing babies and it is called eco-breastfeeding. Among the Canadian Eskimos Dr. Otto Schaefer found that traditional breastfeeding kept the family size to 3 or 4 children. Mothers who follow the Seven Standards of ecological breastfeeding average 14.5 months without menstruation, some mothers have their return earlier and others may go two years or longer without menstruation. God’s plan needs to be promoted among all people, especially in the Philippines with a high infant mortality rate due to a decline in breastfeeding”. (For those who want to find out more about the “Seven Standards” of Ms. Kippley, go to www.nfpandmore.org)

Therefore, even on purely constitutional grounds, the intrusive activities of these foreign groups into the lives of Filipino families are indeed questionable.

E-mail us at jcson@pldtdsl.net