Why I’m #NotoRHBill

As of this writing, Philippine Congress voted “Yes” to a controversial bill, the Reproductive Health Bill. Our political culture as a nation gives everyone a voice, a stand in everything related to politics. Many took sides and I remain to be against it.

I think those who read my Facebook statuses ( profile and page) as well as my retweet will think that the core of my argument is because I’m a mother and a Catholic. But actually it is not. Or should I say, it is more to that.

I came from a family of five children. Yes, it was not a breezy start for my parents who married young but at the middle of our life (when my father went back to school, got a degree) we experienced a better life. And then the crisis came and we were left with an unemployed head of the family. I had a good taste of poverty not because my parents have too much children but simply because my father had no job. No opportunity to find another job and a government service to assist those who are currently unemployed is non-existing in the Philippines.

Yes, during that time, it crossed my naive mind that if my mom didn’t give birth to five children, our life would have been better. Now older and wiser, I also ponder that even if we are just a family of two or three children, if we don’t have any source of income, the effect is still the same.

If my mother thinks that she should have controlled her brood, which one would she choose?

And I will not deny a heartbeat to join my family either.

This is not about limiting your family to a certain number of children but erasing that underlying belief that too much children means a hard life. This bill has built a reputation that more children means more mouths to feed. What is harder is failing to give the basic needs of your children.

Lastly, I am against the Reproductive Health because of the amount of money that the government will be pouring. Can they

If they allot the RH budget for women’s health like new facilities, do you need a law to do that? Can the government fund DOH for new facilities including those related to women’s health? We don’t need the government to tell us to have our annual pap-smear tests or do a breast self-examination.

Do we need a law to be responsible parents? Do we need a billion-peso budget to urge the public to use contraceptives to control their number of children?How many companies will benefit from this bill ( and later law)? When bidding starts, corruption follows.

If you need pills and condoms, they are available at health centers. I saw one documentary and the mother was asked, why is she not controlling her family size, go to the health center for pills? Her answer was that it is ( the health center) too far.If we build better roads and transportation facilities topped with a source of income, she can afford and capable of going to the health center to access those contraceptives.

Give people livelihood. A source of income. If parents are active in earning a living, in providing for the needs and little of wants to the children, there is no need for a law for population control.

We should not rely to the government for this. What we can rely is a corrupt-free nation to attract investors, build more jobs and prepare the future of educated people.

This is not about hypocrisy. A dark episode of my life is painted with poverty and I don’t blame my two sisters and two brothers for that. And I’m a mother myself, risked my life twice to give life a chance. You can’t call me a hypocrite by saying no to RH Bill don’t you?