Lay and religious Filipinos against ‘pro-abortion’ law
Manila (AsiaNews) – A grassroots movement against the reproductive health bills is growing, pending their approval by the Filipino Congress. More than 45 religious and lay groups are backing Catholic bishops in their opposition to the proposed legislation. According to critics the latter entails abortion, the widespread use of contraceptives (from condoms and the pill to intrauterine devices) for birth control and a distorted view about sex education, all of which will lead to promiscuity and free sex among the young who believe that condoms will protect them.
“We have called on people, organizations and communities regardless of age, religion or political affiliation to support and defend the family and life and oppose the ‘anti-life’ bills,” said Lily Perez, a Catholic lay leader.
The Catholic Church cannot lead the campaign alone; it needs the support of a broad-based movement showing its opposition to the anti-life law, which implicitly allows abortion into the country.
For Henrietta T. de Villa, president of Catholic Women’s League, the family is the main institution in Filipino society. Its foundations could be undermined if the law on abortion passes—the consequences will be disastrous for the entire society.
Tomorrow all the bells in the archdiocese of Manila will ring at the same time at 6 pm in protest against the bill now before Congress. It is an initiative designed to forcefully reassert the essential value of life and the fight against any measure that might undermine its integrity. It is also meant to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the promulgation of the encyclical Humanae Vitae issued by Pope Paul VI on 25 July 1968.
The Church is against all methods of contraception that are not natural. It does not however reject the Basal Body Temperature and Billings Ovulation methods which enable married couples to have sexual relations that are not geared towards procreation.
Tomorrow a prayer rally will be held at the Dominican-run University of Santo Tomas in Manila for students as well as the entire local Catholic community.
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