Tama na Ang Panggugulang! Ipasa na ang RH Bill! Now na!

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
88 Times St. West Triangle Quezon City
Tel. 411-3151
Email: office@likhaan.org