Get out of the Dark Age

Why is it that people opposed to family planning and contraception resort to name-calling and hysteria to put across their objection?

In the June 5 issue of the Inquirer, Yvonne Chan-de los Reyes, in a letter, wondered if the Inquirer has been “victimized and fallen under the spell of the materialistic, animalistic, amoral and atheistic brain-washing of the powerful media of the degenerate West.” Whew! Quite a mouthful there.

In the same letter, she pointed out, by citing several studies, that oral contraceptives “carry an excess risk of breast cancer.” Of course, every medicine—and certain contraceptive methods are classified as medicines—has contraindications.

Not every woman who does not want to get pregnant should take any contraceptive without first undergoing a medical-physical examination. This is the official policy of the Department of Health. Besides, the Philippine Family Planning Program is guided by the World Health Organization, which has devised categories for women as potential users of contraceptives—from women who can use the method without restriction (Category 1) to women who should not take the method because their conditions present an unacceptable health risk (Category 4). These categories have been adopted to ensure the safety of our women.

Category 4 excludes women with elevated blood pressure, complicated vascular heart disease, and breast cancer within the past five years.

What I am saying is that our government, in particular the DOH, is not so irresponsible as to put our people at risk by promoting the use of contraceptives by people just because they want and need them. Practicing family planning promotes the health of mothers and children and the rest of the family. It is also one of the means to solve an acute problem the country is facing right now—so many schoolchildren, not enough classrooms, teachers, books, etc.

Furthermore, De los Reyes makes the ridiculous claim of “many other studies showing that contraception increases promiscuity, leading to more AIDS, more single mothers, more children, more female poverty.” She did not cite those studies to bolster her claim. And if those women were using contraceptives, how come they became single mothers and had many children? The logic is badly flawed.

Reasoned discussion about family planning has become impossible. Let us just get on with it.  Millions of Filipino men and women, countless surveys have shown, want to practice family planning.  It is the duty of government to respond to their needs, not ignore them.

Now that the impeachment trial is over, Congress should move on. They should buckle down to work and finally pass the RH bill that candidate Noynoy promised the electorate. President Aquino, after all, won overwhelmingly despite the pathetic lobby of the anti-RH advocates.

Time to get out of the Dark Age and into the 21st century.

—EPHRAIM E. DESPABILADERAS, [email protected]