Experts belie Arroyo's claim on impact of natural birth control
David Dizon, abs-cbnNews.com | 07/31/2008 10:07 AM
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Contrary to claims made by President Arroyo during her 8th State of the Nation Address, population growth has slowed down not through natural family planning but due to lower fertility and higher use of contraceptives in the past eight years, an official of the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) said Wednesday.
In a press conference, UPPI Director Dr. Grace Cruz said the country's population growth rate has been declining from 3.08 percent in 1960-1970 to 2.04 percent from 2000-2007, according to data from the National Statistics Office (NSO).
She said data from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) showed that the country's fertility rate had dropped from 5.97 percent in 1970 to 3.5 percent in 2001 to 3.2 percent in 2007.
Cruz said that despite the lower annual growth rate of 2.04%, the Philippines still has the third highest population growth rate in Southeast Asia, ranking only below Timor Leste and Brunei.
"We are currently growing at a rate of 1.9 million Pinoys born every year. That would mean an estimated 115 million Filipinos by the year 2025, according to UNESCAP," Cruz told reporters.
She said data from the NSO and two National Demographic and Health Surveys showed that of the estimated 12.9 million married women ages 15-49 in the country in 1996-2006, about 1.2 million underwent ligation while 3.4 million used contraceptives and other artificial family planning methods such as pills, spermicides, condoms and IUDs.
On the other hand, only 50,000 married women used natural family planning methods such as Billings ovulation method, Standard Days method, Lactational Amenorrhoea method and Basal body temperature method. Another 1.7 million women used traditional family planning methods such as the calendar and rhythm methods, periodic abstinence and withdrawal.
She also said 6.5 million married women did not apply any form of family planning.
Trends in Contraceptive Use
Percentage of currently married women age 15-49 using modern and traditional methods
|
Survey
|
Modern Methods
|
Natural Family Planning (Mucus /Billings / Ovulation / Standards Days Method / LAM / Basal body temperature)
|
Traditional Methods (Calendar / Rhythm / Periodic Abstinence / Withdrawal and other methods)
|
Total
|
|
|
Permanent Methods (Ligation, vasectomy)
|
Supply Methods (Pill, IUD, Injectables, Male Condom, Diaphragm, Foam, Jelly, Cream)
|
||||
| 1996 FPS |
10.8
|
18.5
|
1.0
|
17.9
|
48.1
|
| 1997 FPS |
10.8
|
19.3
|
0.9
|
16.1
|
47.1
|
| 1998 NDHS |
10.4
|
17.6
|
0.2
|
18.3
|
46.5
|
| 1999 FPS |
10.8
|
21
|
0.5
|
16.9
|
49.3
|
| 2000 FPS |
10.8
|
20.8
|
0.5
|
14.7
|
47
|
| 2001 FPS |
10.6
|
21.9
|
0.5
|
16.4
|
49.5
|
| 2002 FPS |
11.1
|
23.6
|
0.2
|
13.8
|
48.8
|
| 2003 NDHS |
10.6
|
22.3
|
0.4
|
15.5
|
48.9
|
| 2004 FPS |
9.5
|
25.2
|
0.5
|
14.2
|
49.3
|
| 2005 FPS |
9.5
|
26.2
|
0.4
|
13.2
|
49.3
|
| 2006 FPS |
10.5
|
25.1
|
0.3
|
14.8
|
50.6
|
Sources: NSO Family Planning surveys, NSO and Macro International, 1999 & 2004
In her 8th SONA, President Arroyo said her administration’s adherence to natural methods had actually slowed down the country’s population growth rate.
“By promoting natural planning and female education, we have curbed population growth to 2.04 percent during our administration, down from the 2.36 in the 1990s, when artificial birth control was pushed. Informed choice should mean letting more couples, who are mostly Catholics, know about natural family planning,” said Arroyo, a Catholic mother of three.
Arroyo's statement is widely seen as an accession to the stance of the Catholic Church, which has been advocating for the promotion of natural family planning to curb the country's population growth. Family planning advocates said the statement could mean a withdrawal of support for the Reproductive Health bill, which seeks to make available to couples a choice on family planning methods.
Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislator's Committee on Population and Development Foundation, said the president issued the statement to ensure the support of the powerful Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Phiippines.
He said, however, that threats made by Catholic bishops to excommunicate or refuse communion to legislators who support the bill has emboldened more sectors to speak out on the issue.
"It is not just legislators who are talking but non-government organizations, the youth sector, women's group, the United Nations and even former President Fidel Ramos. Instead of instilling fear in the hearts of senators and congressmen, it is the Church that should be caring for the flock," San Pascual said.
Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza, meanwhile, dismissed the Church's threat of excommunication. "Naghuhuramentado na ang Simbahan. It is the Church that should be caring for the poor and the RH bill is pro-poor," she said.
She said at least 52 congressmen remain supportive of the bill despite intense lobbying of the Church to junk the proposal. "If we pass it this year, the impact on fertility rates will be strong and will reflect on the population in the future. It will also lead to better quality of life for the poor who are the ones who need these family planning methods,' she said.
San Pascual said one danger of not passing the RH bill is an uninformed populace who will be deprived of a choice of what family planning method to use. He said that by promoting a natural family planning policy, the government is violating the principle of voluntary choice as founded on the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
"Promoting an NFP-only policy goes against our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, which targets increased access to reproductive health services and contraceptive prevalence rate -- covering both modern natural and artificial methods -- to 60 percent by 2010 and 80 percent by 2015," he said.
