Gov't urged: Legalize abortion, divorce
MANILA, Philippines - Award-winning journalist and novelist Ninotchka Rosca has called on the government to legalize abortion, amid claims that current rules have caused a human rights crisis.
In a statement, the Filipina feminist based in the United States also said she is in favor of “sex education in schools and of reproductive health, of divorce and other freedoms and equality for women.”
She said: “It is self-defeating to ask women to struggle for control of a nation and then expect them not to wield control over their bodies.”
Based on Wikipedia, Rosca is the author of the novels State of War and Twice Blessed. She won the American Book Award for excellence in literature in 1993 for the latter.
She was forced to leave for Hawaii following threats from the dictatorial government of Ferdinand Marcos.
EnGendeRights executive director Clara Rita Padilla disclosed on Tuesday a report saying that “the illegality of abortion does not stop abortion but only makes it dangerous for the health and lives of Filipino women.”
Based on the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights report entitled, “Forsaken Lives: The Harmful Impact of the Philippine Criminal Abortion Ban,” about half a million Filipino women induce abortion yearly because of various reasons including rape and dire socio-economic reasons.
Of this number, about 1,000 die and 90,000 hospitalized due to complications from unsafe abortion.
The ban on abortion is traced to the Spanish colonization of the country. It was lifted from the old Spanish Penal Code of 1870.
Last February 24, Spain approved a new law on abortion that further eased restrictions.
“Spain has liberalized its laws to allow abortion on broad grounds and yet we are left to contend with our old colonial laws. Other predominantly Catholic countries that allow abortion are Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, and Hungary,” Padilla said.
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"- when the life and health
"- when the life and health (physical and mental) of the woman are in jeopardy
- when the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest
- when there is a case of fetal impairment"
Why is it bad to provide the option? Here's the first prevention to abortion: EDUCATION-knowing the consequences of certain actions. You have sex, you get pregnant. Consensual or otherwise.
Well, the petition addresses the "otherwise" which seems to be ignored when the morality police are marching around, quick to condemn without understanding the problems women face. It isn't a problem to them, of course, simply because they do not recognize individuals as autonomous beings, as self-thinking individuals who can make important decisions for themselves.
The above stipulation is really, quite a humanitarian proviso. Nowhere does it advocate the outright abortion of fetuses for pleasure or convenience (although there was a news story I caught that used a woman trying to keep a job so she went for an abortion-tsk, tsk). It doesn't prescribe it as a emans for birth control either. It does provide premises for someone to decide whether or not to abort if the conditions are met in the above list-and be assured that medical standards will be kept instead of sending a woman off to some back alley butcher shop.
Inhumane? Well, sadly, compounding the inhumanity inflicted on a woman by making her carry the fruit of the violence wreaked on her doesn't make anyone any more ethically moral. It just makes them cruel and yes, for the 3rd time in one paragraph, "inhumane."
Try living with being reminded of someone splitting you open and violating your most private spaces every day for NINE MONTHS. Then, imagine what the quality of life that child will have with a mother who will be a basket case. will YOU be there to care for mother and child? I doubt it very much.
So why don't you high-browed moral, culture-conscious people think about it for a second and see who is acting immorally-someone who is trying to deal with something out o her control, or someone IMPOSING THEIR WILL in the name of being all pious and culturally sound? Until you've walked in their shoes, or have actually seen the pain and suffering of a violated woman trying to grasp for sanity while dealing with a living reminder of a crime done to her, I suggest you keep your preconceived notions, theories and hypotheticals to yourselves. Spare us the morality talk. All you want is control over other people.
abortion, divorce
Matindi talaga ang impluwensya ng dolyares ng mga dayuhan. Isipin mo pati kulura natin ay ipinagbibili na ng ilang kababayan natin dahil lamang naambunan sila ng dolyares ng mga putI, SA PAGKUKUNWARI NA SILA AY TAGAPAGTANGGOL NG KABABAIHAN. Lumabas ang tunay na hangarin ng RH Bill- ABORTION- susunod DIVORCE tapos SAME SEX MARRIAGE. KAPAL NG MUKHA NYO, HINDI KAYO TUNAY NA PILIPINO!!Umalis na lang kayo dito sa Pinas at makihalo sa mga banyagang diyos nyo!
If you really cared about
If you really cared about women, you'd be concerned that women are having abortions in the most unsanitary of conditions, unregulated because there is no law to set a health code or standard. While you can ride your moral high-horse, there are women who have been raped, who have been victims of incest. Are you saying that they should carry the result of the crime imposed on them?
Look, I'm not advocating abortion as a means of birth control. I am looking at it as a medical option for women who have been sexually violated. If you are closed to that option, even on those terms, I'd say it won't matter what nationality you are or gender; you are simply inhumane. You want to "control" women and their lives in the name of some national pride or culture deal without looking at the reality of the day and the problems that exist. You want to simply gloss it over-tuck it under your skirt and it will go away... meanwhile the women you act like you're concerned about are dying or are crippled as they attempt to regain some control of their lives-control taken from them when they were raped.
Who is she?
Definitely no moral foundation and definitely not Catholic. Maybe not a Christian too.
She's just one of the many who believe that human beings should behave like cats and dogs or like lions which can kill their offsprings. I believe most of the rapists, pedophiles, and criminals, also share the same belief.
"Based on the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights report entitled, “Forsaken Lives: The Harmful Impact of the Philippine Criminal Abortion Ban,” about half a million Filipino women induce abortion yearly because of various reasons including rape and dire socio-economic reasons."
DON'T BE DECEIVED. Their name should be CENTER FOR ABORTION RIGHTS. They pretend to talk about harm to women when they support the killing of millions of the innocent unborn.
Wow...
"about half a million Filipino women induce abortion yearly because of various reasons including rape and dire socio-economic reasons." Considering the Philippine population, that's pretty small. I suspect that birth control is probably a minor reason and rape, abuse or incest may be a more predominant reason for a Filipina to have an abortion.
I'm not getting your comment-what does being Catholic or Christian have to do with finding a solution to an existing problem? OH wait-you must figure that the solution will correct itself if you insult or call people names... Well, hate to break it to you, but abortion has been around long before modern times. Like I mentioned above, I don't advocate abortion for a means of birth control. That's what keeping your legs together is for. However, in the situation of rape, abuse, incest, or even the health of the mother, it should be a legal option. WHY? So laws concerning the health standards and care of those who will be undergoing the procedure will exist to ensure the safety and health of these women who need to undergo such a procedure. You do care about women, right? I suppose you don't have these problems in your world? No rape victims? No sick-minded uncle molesting their niece or cousin-oncousin action? Must be nice.
The real world has these problems and women are hostage to these-unless they are given the option to right the wrongs done to them in a safe, sterile manner.
You do believe that women should be able to choose and think for themselves, right? Because if you don't, it would be safe to say that you don't consider anyone above dog or cat status, period.