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The implications of what anti-reproductive health law groups want are scary.
After witnessing the second Supreme Court oral arguments on petitions questioning the constitutionality of the RH law, it has become more evident that the petitioners would want to bring women back to the Stone Age.
So far, three anti-RH speakers have taken the floor, former Senator Francisco Tatad, and Atty. Maria Concepcion Noche, counsel for Alliance for the Family Foundation during the first session, and lawyer Luisito Liban, counsel for Couples for Christ for the second.
All three faced the Supreme Court of the country using unbelievably bigoted arguments to defend their petitions against the law. It was difficult to believe, even for a non-lawyer like me, that they actually used dogma masquerading as scientific facts in arguing their case in front of the Supreme Court Justices.
Tatad likened the RH law to genocide. Genocide, according to the dictionary, is the deliberate killing of a large group of people especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. If we are to believe Tatad, the RH law will result in erasing the Filipino nation from the face of the earth.
To me, Tatad’s argument borders on ridicule of the real victims of genocide. Tatad’s argument is ridiculous and archaic.
For her part, Noche argued that the RH law violates the right to life of the unborn. In her zealousness to protect the unborn, she revealed her complete disregard for the health and life of mothers. Repeatedly, she said that the unborn should not be exposed to any risk and that women, no matter what their health conditions are, have the responsibility to, at all cost, protect the unborn from any harm.
At one point Noche even argued that Chief Justice Sereno will violate the Constitution if the CJ advises any woman to do family planning. No matter if such woman already has serious health problems and suffers from severe hardships in raising too many children. Noche simply does not give a damn about women’s welfare. She was actually saying that the millions of Filipino women who use contraceptives are violating the Constitution!
We should not be surprised if next, Noche will bring to court all Filipino women who are on contraceptives. The implication of Noche’s reasoning is, women have no right whatsoever to look after their own health and well-being. Such an obsolete view of women!
During the second oral arguments, Liban took the cudgels for the anti-RH camp. Paraphrasing some of his words, these are some of the things he said:
RH law violates freedom of religion
According to Liban, per the law, a Catholic health service provider who is a conscientious objector needs to refer a patient wanting RH information or services to other caregiver. This makes the conscientious objector commit a sin.
Moreover, because the Catholic Church believes that contraceptives are intrinsically evil and immoral, Liban said that the State, because it will “flood” Catholic women with contraceptives, is making women transgress the Church’ rule. The implication is, women do not have the capacity and the right to think and make decisions for themselves. This is so ancient.
When CJ Sereno told Liban that she knows many Catholic women who believe that contraceptives are not evil, Liban retorted that Catholics who believe this are not practicing Catholics. The implication of this statement as pointed out by the CJ is that Liban is fighting ONLY for that section of Catholics that adheres to notion that contraceptives are immoral. It further implies Liban wants SC to rule so that belief binds everybody, whether Catholic or not. If this is not coercion, I don’t know what is.
RH law violates Constitutional provision on equal protection of the law.
Per Liban’s view, the law’s provisions on RH and sexuality education discriminates against: parents of students in public schools, private schools, and students of public schools.
The law is discriminatory because according to him, parents of students in public education who do not want their children to undergo sex education will not be able to transfer their kids to private schools that do not offer said subjects. On the other hand, some parents with children in private schools that do not offer RH education, but would want their children to undergo such, are also discriminated against. Moreover, students in public schools are discriminated against because they will need to study longer and work harder due to the addition of RH and sexuality education.
The implication is, we must maintain our young people’s IGNORANCE no matter if all evidence points to the need for such education. This is so stone-ageish.
Liban claimed that the law also discriminates against women because contraceptives cause cancer and that the State, because of the law, is exposing women to risks. When asked if what the Department of Health is doing on family planning now is unconstitutional, Liban said that it is and the DOH can be questioned. The implication of this statement is that DOH must be stopped in providing RH services to people.
Further, Liban said that while the objective of arresting maternal mortality rates is good, he considers this as narrow because according to him, maternal death is not among the major causes of death for women. He said that the RH law ONLY addresses maternal deaths but there is no law for other diseases. He said that the RH law is a law gone berserk.
Justice Carpio pointed out that if Liban’s concept of equal protection is to be followed, then the SC must strike down a lot of laws. This includes the Pharmacy Law which allows contraceptives. This is the implication of Liban’s position.
When asked about the country’s run-away population growth and widespread poverty, Liban replied that the problem is not that we have too many poor people but the poor are untrained. He also implied that the RH law is anti-poor and likened it to Hitler’s killing of Jews. According to him, the law aims to “kill” the poor.
On the contrary, Liban said that women should give birth to enough number of children so our race continues. This is a different version of Tatad’s genocide argument and the implication is, women are nothing but baby machines. There goes women’s rights. This is the height of sexism.
In a nutshell, Liban argued that we value our religion and culture and the RH law will breed sinners. He said that young people will have sex and multiple partners, men will have more extramarital affairs, and women, because pregnancy is prevented, can have sex freely. According to him, promiscuity is encouraged and the family will be destroyed.
What the anti-RH is really saying is their religion must be followed by everybody. They want even the Supreme Court to favor the Catholic hierarchy’s subjugation of the Filipino people.
This is no longer the Spanish colonial times. Our women are not chattels. We are a free people.
Let us tell the Supreme Court Justices where we stand on this. This is our red alert!
Author - bethangsioco@gmail.com and @bethangsioco on Twitter.
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