MANILA, Philippines - Nobody is taking away the right of Catholic priests to express their opposition to population management. By the same token, they should not deny others, particularly non-Catholics, the right to choose the method of regulating birth in their families. Making available the different methods of birth regulation is not the same as forcing them on the population, for heaven’s sake! If anything, this approach respects the right of men and women to decide for themselves the method they think would work best for them.
While at it, a reasonable distinction should be made between vasectomy, the use of condoms, tubal ligation and abortion. Abortion, as I understand it, means to cut short the life of a fetus, a life that has already been formed in the womb. With vasectomy, tubal ligation and the use of a condom, no fetus is formed, no conception takes place. So, what fetal life is being aborted? What murder of the unborn child?
By all means, the Church should enjoin its faithful to be obedient Catholics; that is its role. But it should not impose its beliefs on other Filipinos who follow a different line of thinking.
—GUILLERMO ANZURES IBAŃEZ, via e-mail
