Wexistence

These women are not sluts.
Photo from Allianz.com

According to Rush Limbaugh, a woman who advocates for a health care plan that covers contraceptives “essentially says that she must be paid to have sex. What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? Makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.” (He’s since apologized, but only after corporate sponsors pulled their ads from his show.)

Not only is such a statement misogynistic and offensive, it’s also extremely ignorant. Contraceptive pills aren’t used just for preventing pregnancy. The pill is basically hormone therapy and is used to treat a wide variety of medical conditions, e.g. seizures, as was mentioned in the article; severe dysmenorrhea, which is extremely painful and even forces some women to miss work/school during their monthly periods; endometriosis, which untreated can lead to infertility, and that’s just to name a few. Some pills lower the risk of certain diseases, including a number of cancers. Scientists even say that nuns should be on the pill, because women who never bear children are more likely to develop breast, ovarian, and uterine cancer.

Providing women with contraceptive pills isn’t about allowing them to have as much sex as they want (which is entirely their business, by the way). It’s about ensuring the health of the 50% of the population who happen to have ovaries. Our own legislators need to keep that in mind during RH bill debates.

On a related note, “Why Patriarchal Men Are Utterly Petrified of Birth Control — And Why We’ll Still Be Fighting About it 100 Years From Now” is a great read. It’s a little shocking to me how controversial birth control still is in the United States. You’d expect it to be hotly debated in the Philippines, but you’d think that in the US it would be a non-issue by by now. A look at the broader historical context makes you realize that “the fight for contraception is not only not over — it hasn’t even really started yet.”

This is happening! I’m proud to be a supporter of the RH bill, and to those who think that this is a fad, I will have you know that I have been an RH advocate for the last 10 years, long before RH was getting this much media attention.

The RH bill won’t solve poverty, but it will bring down the rates of maternal and infant mortality, decrease the number of abortions that result from unwanted pregnancies, educate the youth who are engaging in risky sexual behavior with no knowledge of its consequences, and promote equity for the poor by giving them access to reproductive health services that are easily available to the rich.

If you’re unconvinced that the poor need RH, I invite you to spend some time in Tondo to get to know the families who are living in squalor. Let me introduce you to Manong Pedicab Driver who has sixteen children and no pedicab (he sold it to buy medicine when his baby got sick). The family members eat once a day, if at all, and take turns sleeping on the cardboard floor of a shanty that’s barely 4 by 4 meters. Or 42-year-old Nanay Labandera who has nine children and whose last pregnancy nearly killed her. She doesn’t want to have any more children but she has no control over her reproductivity — her drunkard husband beats her when she denies him sex.

RH is just one component of poverty reduction. There is still much work to be done in numerous other areas. Thankfully we have a NAPC secretary who knows what he’s doing and a president who seems serious about poverty reduction, at least as far as budget allocation is concerned. I’ve never been a fan of President Aquino, but he has allocated more funds for poverty reduction programs than any other president before him.

I was fortunate to be part of a group of NGO representatives from various sectors with whom NAPC held a consultation on the National Anti-Poverty Strategy and Localization/Empowerment Framework. It’s a good plan, and it’s heartening that the government is sincere about listening to us and working with us. (Sige na nga PNoy, dahil rito at dahil sinusuportahan mo ang RH bill, peace na tayo.)

It’s an exciting time to be doing development work!

© Neatorama

There are a lot of myths going around, and a lot of incorrect assumptions derived from them. Everyone deserves access to the right information. Mulat Pinoy presents you with Get Real: The Facts vs. Myths on Population, Family Planning, and Reproductive Health, a comprehensive paper with cited facts and figures.

I recommend that you read the entire paper, but the Cliffnotes version is thus:

Myth #1: Contraceptives cause abortion. Life begins at fertilization, so contraceptives kill children.
FACT: Contraceptives DO NOT cause abortion. Research has shown that the use of contraceptives prevents up to 112 million abortions each year and reduces abortion by 85%.

Myth #2: Contraceptives are dangerous to health and cause cancer.
FACT: Contraceptives DO NOT cause cancer, have been proven safe worldwide, and even lower cancer risk.

Myth #3: Mandatory sex education and contraceptives will destroy the family, compromise morality, increase promiscuity and promote HIV infections.
FACT: Age-appropriate sex education and contraceptive provisions will support informed choice and lower the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Myth #4: Family Planning using artificial methods is against Filipino culture.
FACT: National surveys show that a majority of Filipinos believe that family planning using modern and artificial methods is important. Many of them prefer smaller family sizes.

Myth #5: Natural family planning (NFP) is the most effective and safe family planning method, is free, and is the only program that should be supported by the government.
FACT: Both NFP and modern methods are needed to effectively and safely address maternal health, family planning, and sustainable development.

Myth #6: There is no link between population and poverty. Corruption is the sole cause of poverty.
FACT: There are strong, proven links between poverty, rapid population growth, and large, unplanned family sizes.

Myth #7: The Philippines has enough resources to meet a larger population.
FACT: The Philippines will not develop sustainably unless it slows its rapidly growing population.

Myth #8: Highly populated countries like India and China are successful because of their large populations, while other countries are experiencing a “demographic winter.”
FACT: India and China have been trying to reduce population growth and family sizes for decades, and their growth is due to the improving productivity of their citizens. The Philippines is 100 years away from a “demographic winter,” and even with lowered population growth and fertility rates, will already reach 160 million in 2060. Without this, the Philippines may have an unsustainable population of 240 million people.

Myth #9: Family planning through modern contraceptives is against the Philippine Constitution.
FACT: The Philippine Constitution and Philippine commitments to International Agreements allow family planning and the use of modern methods.

Myth #10: Islam, Christianity and other major religions forbid contraception.
FACT: Islam, most Christian denominations, and other major religions allow couples to use modern and natural methods to plan their families. The governments of Catholic countries have accepted family planning policies with State provision of modern and natural family planning methods.

Mulat Pinoy is a project of the Probe Media Foundation, Inc., supported by the Philippine Center for Population and Development. Its goal is to help the Philippine public understand the issues involved with population, based on accurate facts, figures and research from experts in industry, governance and the academe.