Do you support family planning that includes artificial methods, amid opposition from the Catholic Church?

Question

Having one of the highest birthrates in Asia, the Philippines' population grows at around two percent every year. But with inflation at a 17-year-high and 40 percent of the nation's 90 million people living below the poverty line, Philippine Rep. Edcel Lagman believes that we cannot afford the current growth rate economically and is sponsoring a bill for a comprehensive family planning program, called the Reproductive Health Care Act.

The Roman Catholic Church, traditionally opposed to any form of birth control, is campaigning against the bill, arguing that Filipino couples should have the discipline to practice the church-sanctioned natural family planning methods. Some church leaders have also threatened to excommunicate any legislator who supports Lagman’s bill. Tell us what you think about this sensitive yet crucial issue.

Answer 1

Absolutely! I'm a Catholic, but its time to realize what's reality.

Philippine's population for the past years ballooned and caused

poverty, hunger, and etc. Will the Church help the country to eliminate this problem? Heck no. Why would the Church interfere if they themselves can't do anything to solve this crisis. think.

Answer 2

The church should not control the government.The people should have the right to choose how to live there life.The church should not try to rule as a dictatorship.Also it is the duty and of responsibility to practice safe s*x.Married couples should be able to freely express themselves in that way as often as they want while being able ti cut down on the chance of having kids.It is wrong to dictate that a couple should ONLY have s*x if they want to have a kid.That is wrong.It is a freedom that should be cherished to express to each other in the most intimate form.Also it makes it harder on lower income families who's husband force s*x on there wife even if a condom is not available.Also there is a rise in abortion both illegal and legal.The church shoeld stop the insanity and dictatorship.

Answer 3

no because artificial methods are anti-life which makes the church against it and the use of it also may lead to the death of the one using it for example pills, etc.. and the doctors should also explain both the positive and negative effects of pills, condoms, and others.

Answer 4

yes i support the move of the catholic church, because its his duty to remind us on what is good for us.  The church is not against family planning but not the way that will ruin our soul.  The church do not want us to go against nature, for if we do, nature will go against us in form of sicknesses, like cancers.  

Lets us plan our family, let us do it naturally - God;s way! it just take discipline, study the natural family planning which is 99 % effective and safe.

Answer 5

yes, definitely... aside from the fact that 'natural' family planning is not applicable for all couples (since not all women are regular when it comes to their estrus cycle), it is also not 100% fool-proof.. besides, the church nowadays is all talk, they fail to see the long term effects of rapid population growth and the limited carrying capacity of our resources...  

Answer 6

yes, i support the bill of rep. lagman. the big question for me is why is the Church is keep on opposing a legislation of this kind. the population is growing yearly foods are not already enough for all of us to share. come 2010 election who ever the presidential candidate with clear policy on population control i shall vote for him/her.

Answer 7

I'm sorry, but the Church needs to pull its head out of its metaphorical *** and realize that birth control is a good thing. Sure, s*x is for reproduction.  I understand that. I passed Bio 100. What the church needs to understand is that having tons of kids is a bad thing these days. Back in the day, it meant free farm labor. Now it means miserable families and kids with no opportunities.  

Answer 8

The Roman Catholic Church should just shut up and support Rep. Lagman's bill. They don't realize the effects of overpopulation and that sometimes, kindness is a hindrance to success. It's even good for the country economically. Those church leaders threatening to excommunicate legislators who support this bill should take a lesson on population control and family planning. Sheeh. By the way, I'm thirteen years old and I'm aware of what the h**l's happening to the country and our population today.

Answer 9

let ALL the churches here in the philippines excommunicate all filipinos but THEY should get out of this archipelago..INCLUDING THE pork barrel GOBBLING politicians...if ALL THE churches HERE IN THE PHILIPPINES ,WILL UTILIZE ALL THEIR EARNINGS FROM TITHES,ALMS,..LOVE OFFERINGS..ETC.ETC....THERE WILL BE NO POVERTY LINES.!!!!   I Support life....a meaningful,good quality life....which we can never achieve ,,with the help of church business swindling leaders. and pork barrel gobbling pedophile coddling gun totting politicians....

Answer 10

yes! I STRONGLY SUPPORT the birth control bill!

if the church has a strong fight against abortion, then they should've supported birth control to begin with!

yes, they fight for the lives of these defenseless babies. but if i were one of those 3 babies born every freakin' minute and grow up in poverty, i would probably wish i were never given the chance to live in this country!

the church should know that. life's not just about sanctity--we're talking about reality here. we need food. not prayers. and the babies that they say they are defending need a life to live...not a life they will forever regret they had.  

Answer 11

i support the reproductive bill by Rep. Lagman, because in our country we need drastic solution to our population problem and the chruch cannot answer this by the natural method. i mean wake up it is much more violation of human rights because you cannot provide meal and basic needs to your children and one major source of poverty is because of big family members.

Answer 12

Why do the priests seem to force their belief on everyone else including non-catholics? They instead should preach to their parishioners at their pulpit about what they believe . I've been raised a Roman Catholic and was made to believe lots of "useless" things and teachings. Nowadays, they seldom talked about Latin being the language used by Jesus, instead they do their masses in English or in the local dialect. Now again, they want everyone to believe that family planning (Government version) is not biblical? Some of these methods (IUD) may not be, but what about the other methods?

Answer 13

Of course I do! The Catholic teaching on contraception is based on flawed theology and outdated reality. Majority of the bishops and lay people who studied the matter recommended that the Catholic stance on contraception be changed but Humanae Vitae did the opposite just because it didn't want to admit that it made a mistake when it issued the original teaching on contraception.  

Answer 14

here's my two cents worth: yes, i support the reproductive health care act and am praying hard that it pass the readings and be signed into a law. the reasons why we need a nation-wide family planning program are really simple. time will come that the Philippine's carrying capacity, our natural resources and amount of available arable and alienable land will not be able to sustain or support the population. people complain of poor health care, lack of classrooms and textbooks in public schools, malnutrition and the likes but fail to realize that all these scarcities are directly related to our large and still ballooning population. our government just can't afford to provide basic amenities to 90 million Filipinos. what more if we reach 100 million, or more? come to think of it, a law whose purpose is to control our rapid population growth is long overdue.  

in addition, large population size explains why labor is cheap here, in that labor also has its law of supply and demand i.e. high supply of workers, low pay. people should also stop wondering why there's not enough job opportunities in the Philippines! we are just too large a workforce to be accommodated in the current workplace.

some critics say that it's immoral to use artificial birth control methods, but i think it's more immoral to keep bringing children into this world without having the means to give them a good life. the church should stop meddling with the legislature. this renders the constitutional provisions on the division of church and state nugatory. priests, bishops and other religious leaders should stop using the pulpit to hammer their arguments into the faithful adherents' heads. obviously, the issue of birth control is not solely within spirituality's realm. for people to decide what is best for this country, they should hear the different sides of the arguments. i am a catholic too, and one who has sincere concern for the poor children whose parents keep making babies but cannot afford to give them the rudiments of a decent, healthy life.

why cite the cases of  developed countries now facing the problem of negative population growth? their perspective on marriage and family life is different from ours. in many "liberated" countries, the concept of "pure relationship" coined by sociologist anthony giddens is increasingly becoming the norm. and lastly, do u honestly think that an all-out abstinence is possible between sexually healthy and loving married couples? think again. this would be like lenten season in the bedroom.  

Answer 15

The Catholic church has no right to be involved in birth control.  It is not bilbe base and is just another of the catholic churchs missguided influences on their members.  If the catolic church wants to endorse something it should be invloved in priest sexual misconduct.  Not what goes on in their parishioners bedrooms who are married.

Answer 16

Yes, I prefer to give all kinds of family planning informations to prospective clients/patients giving both their advantages and disadvantages and then let the clients choose for themselves which ones are they more comfortable to use.

In health care practice, I like to empower patients and let them be responsible for their health.

Answer 17

People who can't afford to feed their children have no business having them. Easier said than done, though.

The govenrment is trying to do it's best to control the population explosion. But with the Catholic Church blocking it, it's a losing battle.

It's about time the Catholic Church stop this hypocrisy and open their eyes. If nothing is done, the country will see a population explosion beyond imagination.

Who will feed the hungry children then? Who will give shelter to the poor? We can't even do anything now, much less 5-10 years from now? The Catholic Church? I highly doubt it!!!

Answer 18

No I don't oppose the bill.  What the catholic church needs to do is to launch a similar movement initiated by themselves to educate the people on responsible family planning.  Based on my personal experience, those that are not aware of the consequences of having many children are the ones who don't have enough income to sustain their families and these are the ones that need to be educated for responsible parenthood.

Answer 19

NO, artificial contraceptive is a mess and is also missed just like the pills aand the iud. and regarding the condoms as for me is messy to use. natural birth control teaches how to discipline the couples regarding sexual intercourse.

Answer 20

I support modern family planning. The use of natural family planning methods with high failure rates such as withdrawal method results in unwanted pregnancies and leads women to consider unsafe operations such as abortions. Giving women access to information and services helps women avoid abortions.

The struggle for the passage of the Reproductive Bill (RH) in Congress rages on. The Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) through the Democratic Socialist Women of the Phils. (DSWP) initiated an online petition that we request you to support by attaching your signature.

Please go to http://www.Petition Online.com/ rhan2008/ petition. html to do this.

Answer 21

I think the church position stinks.  It is another example of the church getting their noses into the matters of the state, and trying to force their will on the people through threats.  If they used a brain, they would know the church approved methods of birth control are not effective.  They are against all forms of birth control (and disease prevention with the use of condoms), yet they are forcing over 400,000 women to undergo illegal aborthins which kill 400,000 fetuses, and some mothers as well.  Will they care for those children if they are allowed to be born, or pay for the medicines of those who catch AIDS?  I think not!  It would take too much money out of their pockets.  I addressed this to the CBCP and they have not answered to date.

Answer 22

I am a Catholic but I support the move of our legislators. Let the church excommunicate everyone. Its only in the Philippines that citizens allow the church to abuse and unfairly meddle in the affairs of the state. It doesn't happen in other countries. The church ,in my opinion , should first address the problems within the church and leave the government solve overpopulation with logical solutions. To my mind, let us ignore this overbearing church.  

Answer 23

I do believed nowadays that we strongly need to support this method to control our booming population. more people now are not getting the right education, foods and other basic needs and services from our government.

Gone are the days that we always listen to the the Roman Catholic Church, for now the CBCP should as of the moment focus their attention on their internal problems...much better if they can  "shut off" their "mouth" on government issues.

Answer 24

Absolutely, especially in opposition to the (male-dominated) Catholic church.  I am in favour of a comprehensive family planning program and choices for women and their partners.  I hope the legislators stand up to the heat and vote with their consciences.  Any church that wants to excommunicate politicians who are trying to help women in this way is not worth belonging to.  This is an example of why the Catholic church is losing parishioners everywhere in the world.

Answer 25

As long as the bill does not include the legalization of abortion, I think I would be okay with that.  The Church needs to be more open-minded.  We are not killing unborn babies here.  It is only family planning.  

However, I guess we should also look closely into the provisions of the Reproductive Health Care Act before we could agree on it completely.

Answer 26

I believe we really need to do population control. Every parent and parent to be needs to plan and make sure be ready to raise a child. It's a parent's obligation to give the child his basic necessities such as food, shelter and education. A lot of children especially here in Metro Manila are seen in the streets begging for food and even money for them to be able to feed their hungry stomach and even the stomach of their parents. They are even not enrolled in school because they need to feed their stomach first to survive.

Answer 27

Yes, family planning is a necessity in today's world with its exploding population and depletion of resources. Please think of our future generations. Natural family planning methods are not 100% foolproof. Why put people and children through unnecessary burdens/miseries that can be avoided. And the church should not try to interfere with or impose its beliefs on the government, or people.

Answer 28

I agree to reproductive act of congressman edcel lagman.

this is the only mean stop the growing population of the philippines,if

we don't support this bill we can see in the next 2 or 5 yrs that a lot

of pilipino is suffering from hunger or revolution as what this roman want to happen.

In my own opinion, GOD will understand this thing, that we just can't

multifly if you can support our family, And if the church really want

help the people let them be the example as GODS follower.

Answer 29

Honestly I believed that the catholic church caters most to poor people to justify its relevance of charity and mendicancy promotions. That's why it doesn't mind having a ballooning very poor population and never progressive. Point is they don't want people to be well-off since that would mean less of the need for them.

Answer 30

Yes, I am...

Natural family planning method being pushed by the Catholic Church is one and the same as the Comprehensive Family Planning Program as authored by Rep. Edcel Lagman.

It is having s*x, and enjoying it too, with the end in mind that your partner (presumeably the wife) will not conceive, or in layman's term, will not get pregnant.

Now, who's saying that s*x is not to be enjoyed by couples, and will elicit bad sexual behaviour?

Answer 31

Yes I support the governments program of family planning. I don't agree with the church's opposition to this and I don't really see any good reason why  they oppose. I think it is high time the Filipino people realize that it is not the church that raise their families and it is not the church that bear the consequences of being poor, it is THEM.

We should multiply proper education, we should multiply proper nutrition, we should multiply proper shelter and care for the children and not multiply beggars, not multiply sickness in our society and one way to do that is to only bear children that you can afford to provide with proper education, nutrition and shelter.

We should propagate love amongst our people. But poverty can only begat hatred. Is it not that this is happening now?