There are two opposing sides to the RH Bill. The Anti-RH mostly made up of devout Catholics and the Pro-Rh supporters, Catholics or none Catholics alike. I never expected to be exposed to ardent supporters of both sides during our board reviews but lo and behold, here comes a lecturer from an esteemed Catholic university from the northern region who supports the RH Bill strongly because he is pro-life.
Pro-Life; a term I absolutely hate because it implies that the other side is anti-life. And what's worse is that the people coining that term comes from the religious sector. Now this lecturer, Mr. Anti, talked about how we, of the medical community, must appeal not to our emotions but rather to our conscience and knowledge. That we of all people should know that this bill's end result is abortion. He also said that if poverty is the problem, then give them jobs. At that moment, the expression on my face could be described in three letters=WTF.
Today, on the other hand, we got a lecturer who seems to have a better grasp on the current reality of the Philippine nation. This lecturer, Mr. Pro, explicitly said that laws like the RH Bill should be passed because this bill will help educate the poor. The poor and uneducated sector which comprises of almost more than half of the nation is the ones with the large and increasing number of children. They are the ones contributing to the greater percentage of maternal and child mortality in our country. Giving them jobs will not solve our problems. Mr. Anti has also forgotten the fact that we are a poor country. Our economy cannot sustain giving jobs to everyone.
I remembered an economics professor once told our class that the wealth of the Philippines is distributed in three parts. She illustrated it using an inverted pyramid. The greatest portion of the wealth, the bottom part of the pyramid which must belong to the poor is owned by the few rich Filipinos, the middle portion by the middle class and the topmost, the smallest portion belongs to the poor sector. This is our reality.
Just recently I watched a video by Juana Change, at the beginning it shows housewives fighting against a bill which they know so little of. The only knowledge they obtained about the bill is from what the priest has been lecturing them. Again, the word Pro-life is being abused. Love that video because it was deceptively simple yet it’s what we call “sagad sa buto”.
