Aumentado slams RH bill

By JUNE S. BLANCO

UNCONSTITUTIONAL, redundant, unnecessary and just enriches multinationals.

Thus Rep. Erico Aumentado (2nd District, Bohol) describes the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.

Aumentado is among the speakers of the anti-RH Bill rally slated in the Diocese of Talibon under Bishop Christian Vicente Noel. All towns within the diocese will be sending delegations to the event – up to Jagna to the east, Tubigon to the west and Carmen in the interior.

Other  speakers are Bishop Noel, Dr. Jose Bullecer and the Social Action Center director of Talibon.

A recipient of the Humanae Vitae award from Cardinal Vidal for his pro-life stance, the solon said Section 12 of Article II of the Philippine Constitution provides that “The State shall equally protect the life of the mother and of the unborn child.”

Fr. Joaquin Bernas, delegate to the 1987 Constitutional Commission, had said human life begins with the fertilization of the ovum by the sperm. This begins the child’s right to life and protection by the state as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Aumentado said the Philippine Medical Association, former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral and the United States Senate support the observation. The US Senate had called 57 experts including those from the Harvard Medical School and Mayo Clinic.

Among those called was Dr. Jerome Lejeune, father of modern genetics, to answer questions like when does human life start.

The 1981 US Medical Report says there is overwhelming evidence that human life starts at fertilization, as supported by countless medical, biological and scientific papers.

Birth control pills and intra-uterine devices (IUDs) kill – because these prevent the meeting of the sperm and ovum. Pills also are abortifacient, he added – a high risk acknowledged in scientific journals of the American Medical Association, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology of 1985. IUDs, the paper said, also eliminates the early embryo.

He said the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2007 had presented a study by 27 scientists that said the pill has a high level of carcinogenicity – like cigarettes and asbestos. Contraceptive pills can also cause strokes, heart attacks and others.

These findings would show that the RH Bill legalizes crimes that had used people’s money when perpetrated – government workers distributing the pills that in effect supports the “massacre” of unborn children because it can cause cancer, stroke and heart attacks in the mother. The act also violates one of the Ten Commandments – “Thou shalt not kill.”

Aumentado also said it is high time to reflect on the common observations of then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and current State Secretary Hillary Clinton. Both had said that the RH Bill necessarily includes abortion as an effective method of population control.

He said the bill is redundant and unnecessary because there are already laws implementing the provisions in the RH Bill through the Department of Health. The program has a P3 billion funding with which to purchase and distribute pills, IUDs and condoms.

It includes population control that was already started during the martial law years of then President Marcos, with support from the United States of America.

The law on Anti-Violence Against Women and Children already gives them the right to protection and to choose the appropriate family planning method. Presidential orders and proclamations also include thee tapping of health workers in distributing pills, IUDs, condoms and the like, hence the redundance, the Bohol solon said.

The funds for these activities could have been used for studies to prevent the top causes of death in the Philippines. The World Health Organization Mortality Country Fact Sheet (2006) on the Philippines lists these as lower respiratory tract infections, ischaemic heart disease, tuberculosis, hypertensive heart disease, perinatal conditions, cerebrovascular disease, violence, diarrheal diseases, diabetes mellitus and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

On top of the P3 billion, another potential drain of people’s money in the RH Bill is the yearly appropriation for the implementation of the same. The amount could be used to propagate the Billings Ovulation Method, a natural family planning method.

The 1978 World Health Organization trial on the Billings Ovulation Method reveals an average biological efficiency for this method of 99.2%.