Killing the reproductive health bill in congress
Posted at 10/02/2008 4:46 PM | Updated as of 10/02/2008 4:58 PM
Killing the reproductive health bill in congress
After seven plenary session days in Congress, the first interpellator of the Reproductive Health bill is not yet done, and 20 or so other opponents are said to be waiting in line. We must ponder the consequences of this unprecedented delay.
Eleven women die each day from complications of pregnancy and childbirth.
Twelve infants die each day from increased risks brought on by too short birth spacing. More than a thousand women suffer each day from serious obstetric complications. These are estimates and calculations from the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, DOH and NSO.
Most of these deaths and near-deaths come from poor families.
The RH bill proposes realistic solutions to these real life tragedies: voluntary family planning to prevent unintended pregnancies; skilled birth attendance for pregnancies that come to term; and life-saving emergency obstetric care for pregnancies and deliveries that go askew.
Lives are on the line with every passing day. We ask opponents of the bill, especially the representatives in Congress, to act with urgency and responsibility.
If you think the deaths and sufferings are exaggerations, then please show everyone your evidence. If you think the whole proposal is worthless, then pray tell what will work. If you think parts of the proposal must be junked, then please tell which part and why.
Conservative religious groups recently called on people to "kill" the bill. Killing a person is impossible to do humanely; so is killing an idea. Such vile language can only result in equally vile tactics at the Congressional plenary sessions: charges that proponents are in it for the money; constant threats to adjourn or suspend sessions; brazen use of Church clout to secure choice seats in the gallery; long and successive speeches meant solely to delay; interrogations on the origin and route taken by the bill instead of its content.
Have the opponents of the RH bill been transformed into a murderous horde that will do anything to impose their beliefs? As a born Catholic, I hope not.
But every day spent in delaying discussions is actually killing and maiming mothers and infants. We ask opponents of the RH bill in Congress to at least have the courage to tell them why.
Junice Lirza D. Melgar, MD
Executive Director
Likhaan
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