While many in power seem busy edifying a man who spent the latter years of his life and a considerable part of our taxes in the utmost lap of luxury, one wonders when they’ll deign to turn their attention to the eleven women who die daily from the lack of reproductive health care in the Philippines. Perhaps these women have gone unnoticed because they didn’t have the benefit of an illustrious career as an Arroyo hatchetman. Perhaps Archbishop Cruz has forgotten to to include them in the scope of his pastoral care as he’s too busy considering whether to give a suicide a Catholic burial.
On Tuesday, February 8 in Congress at what should have been the first and last Committee on Appropriations hearing for the RH Bill, I watched Honorable Representatives Rodriguez, Nograles Jr. and Garcia sit quietly by as an advocate for another pending bill outright pleaded to the assembled congressmen to vote for its speedy resolution and approval. The bill was for the release of promised retirement benefits for combat veterans and the advocate was begging to have it passed before more of them died of old age. Not one of those three even bothered to raise their hands to second the motion.
The bored, uninterested looks on their faces changed immediately upon hearing that it was time to discuss the RH Bill. Hon. Rep. Garcia, as he had done in this and every other congressional hearing on RH that he crashes (he’s not actually on any of the concerned committees), bent on wasting taxpayer funded time spent a total of about half an hour in… his… halting… manner… of… speech belaboring technicalities and jurisdiction. Hon. Rep. Nograles smugly began his favorite game of posing ludicrously pedantic questions to the wrong resource speakers, ending with calling the Department of Health representative ‘unqualified’ to her face. Hon. Rep. Rodriguez, his voice forever raised, ranted against the evils of ‘anti-contraceptives’, not even pausing for breath as he, in a moment of pure class, shouted down the congresswoman beside him trying to reply.
Representatives Bello, Garin, Lagman and Espina tried to reply with reasoned arguments and scientific evidence, to little avail. Enough time was wasted that the Appropriations committee is now set to go to a second hearing on Wednesday next week.
Seventy-seven more dead women.
That’s the death toll collected in the name of men like Hon. Rep. Garcia, who invoked the Lord’s Prayer while denouncing the bill that might have saved these women. This from the same man who at the last hearing openly mocked, laughed at, turned his back to then walked out on the representative from the Catholics For The RH Bill, incredulous that she could call herself a true Catholic and still support the bill. As a practicing Episcopalian I for one am ashamed to call this man a fellow Christian. I’ve known some good people in the Catholic church, and civil people (ok, one lady) in the Pro-life movement- are all of them willing to stand by and accept a man like this as their champion?
Shortly afterward Hon. Rep. Rodriguez, wild-eyed and literally hand waving as he ignored every other provision, shouted that he would never allow artificial contraceptives in his district because he was a Catholic.
Maybe he was too concerned with ensuring himself a Catholic burial to remember the little things, like upholding a secular democracy for all faiths and for none. Like our newly minted coward of a President, he probably prefers quiet closed door meetings with senior Catholic church officials to dictate his policy on, ahem, withdrawals.
If the actions of men like these are what it takes to ensure a proper Catholic burial these days then you can shove my corpse down the same toilets that mothers with unwanted pregnancies keep trying to flush their babies down. At least there I’ll rest in good company, sharing a septic tank with the products of a creed of ignorance and denial that has the gall to label itself Pro-Life.
I was raised from a devoted catholic family i served the church for some time in my life. The time that i got pregnant and got married inisp ko agad kung anu ang mga dapat gawin pag anjan na ang anak ko, di kelangang mag tanga tangahan sa mga consequences pag nabuntis ako ulit and so i had to talk to my husband and make a concrete plan sa maging pamilya namin para di kami mahirapan pag dating ng future.One major thing is the family planning. After kung manganak i know na what to do so nagpalagay ako ng IUD coz yun ang nakikita kung hiyang sa akin. Tell me, ibig sabhin ba nito kinokundena ako ng dyos dahil sa napili kung method? well i dont think so, kasi para sa akin bilang isang babae me karapatan akong alagaan ang health ko to the fullest and live an active sex life at the same time at para makapag hanap buhay para sa mga bills at makapag save para sa kinabukasan ng pamilya namin. If ang sagot ng simbahan sa akin is yes kukundinahin ako ng dyos sa aking pagpapalagay ng IUD then let me ask u this. Sino ba kayo to judge me at e judge at ang mga babae at mamamayan na pabor sa RH BILL? Dyos ba kayo?? sa inyo ba kami haharap pag namatay kami?? Ang pag husga nyo ba ang aking kailangan?? HOW DARE YOU palibhasa di nyo kasi nasubukan magka anak at magka asawa at magkapamilya at kumayod ng kumayod para magtrabaho. Napakadamot nyo at mga hipokrito kayong lahat. Nagkaron pa tayo ng demokrasya kung ipagdadamot samin ang aming kalayaang mamili, para kayong mga kumunista kung magpatupad ng rules. Kung ayaw nyo ipatupad ang RH BILL e di gumawa kayo ng mga eskwelahan na libre na pang hangang kolehiyo para sa mga pamilyang me mga anak na 4 o hangang isang dosena ka tao, tapos pakainin nyo ang mga pamilyang yan na libre at bigyan nyo narin ng libreng livelihood ang mga magulang..magpakitang gilas kayo kung talagang nagmamalasakit kayo sa utos ng dyos.. pero alam ko di nyo kayang gawin yan, sarap kasi ng mga buhay nyo e, naka aircon ang mga kwarto nyo at sarap ng mga kinakain nyo at me sasakyan pa kayo, bindisyon nga lang ng bungalow na bahay 500 pesos ka agad at ibang price pag dos andanas na bahay at eto e sheshare ko lang sa lahat ang isa pang hinanakit ko sa simbahan. Ngayong kasi pati yung pagalay ko ng misa buwan buwan sa mga namatay kung mga kamag anak pinag iinitan nyo pa, ang mass offering for souls e me presyo na din, 50 pesos daw per kaluluwa..SINO GINAGAGO NILA? nakaka shock dahil pati kaluluwa pinagkikitaan pa and i know for sure na kahit anung amount ang donation kahit piso pa yan. E ang dami kong mga patay na na kamag anak at ayaw kung me e d-drop ako sa listahan ko dahil lang sa singil nila but i always tell them na eto lang ang amount na kaya ko at di ko kaya ang amount na hinihingi nyo..so to make this short dismayado ako sa inyong mga nasa simbahan and it made me realized na all of you ay HINDI TAPAT SA INYONG BOKASYON. as of now im thinking to leave the church dahil sa inyo at panginoon nalang ang humusga sa akin.
Wait. Mimi's argument can't be a red herring since her argument is an incomplete inductive analogy.
And about 77 more dead women, isn't that a product of a hasty generalization argument?
And let's talk about motives, personal motives. What will bishops and priests gain if they are successful on stopping the passing of the RH bill? Is there any? But for those who want the bill passed the most perhaps want money and light conscience. Money may be the motive because a large profit can spring from large contraceptive projects. Conscience may be the motive because contraceptives is against possible life and it is lighter for conscience when RH bill becomes a Law since anything that is in the law are for the better. 😀
Let's do the math:
1. UNICEF, a relatively credible health organization, calculates from its studies that 11 women die every day due to complications due to childbirth,
2. The time span between the hearing (February 8), and the next hearing (February 15) is seven (7) days.
11 X 7 = 77
That seems to be pretty basic math to me, and a fair calculation based on the UNICEF's data. What were you saying about generalizations again? 😉
With regards to the RH Bill, it's mostly due to my conscience. The more research I read about our women suffering unnecessarily from birth complications and poverty, the more I am compelled to fight for their cause.
I also follow my basic principle of honesty; nothing pisses me off more than when the CBCP and the Pro-Life community resorts to lying, which they have consistently done so when this whole RH brouhaha started.
Sounds like a historical piece about the Roman Senate. These guys clearly know what they are doing. It's also great to put some faces to the Anti-RH forces. Now the question is: how to temper their influence?
[…] anger is just. The women of our country are dying, their right to be enlightened about their bodies denied to […]
For people who are vocal supporters of a religion that claims to be pro-life, they're not doing a very good job of honoring the rights of our elderly and women, are they? 🙁
The hearing next Wednesday will actually be the 3rd, a result of the premeditated roadblocks used by the anti-RH forces, which justifies some more the anger and frustration in your article (great!). The woman talking with Rep. Rufus Rodriguez in 1st photo is Atty. Jo Imbong, CBCP Legal Office executive secretary and a senate candidate of the Ang Kapatiran religious party in the last elections. http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/7490
Considerably more women die from pneumonia each day. Is there a law for that?
Does the fact that more women die from pneumonia than complications from pregnancy make the lives of the latter any less relevant?
No, but hospitals don't deny pneumonia patients care. But for women with reproductive issues–even knowledge is denied to them.
Let me ask you Mimi a question based on your logic: kitchen knives can be used as a deadly weapon. Why don't we license housewives who own them?
Dear God, I just fed a troll.
@Mimi: Your comment reminded me of a book titled "Straight and Crooked Thinking", particularly of the chapter called "Some dishonest tricks in argument":
"Another dishonest argument is one mentioned by Bentham in his book The Theory of Fictions. It is still used fairly commonly. Its general form is to discourage action against some admitted evil by pointing to some other evil which is stated to be worse than the first evil, but about which the user of the argument is making no proposal to do anything. For example, as an argument against attempts to abolish war, it has been pointed out that more deaths have resulted from road accidents in this country during some number of past years than the total casualties of the Boer War. This would be a reasonable ground for trying to reduce the number of road accidents, but it is a dishonest argument when urged as a reason for not trying to prevent further repetitions of the Boer War. The dishonesty of this use of the argument lies in the fact that there is no good reason why we should not try to do both: to prevent people from being killed on the roads and also to prevent them from being killed in wars."
I think you guys are being a little too hard on Mimi, guys.
She has just provided us with an excellent example of a Red Herring argument.
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/red-herr…
All new readers here should take note, and realize why Mimi's statement is going to be treated with copious amounts of swearing, while her mental capacity will be likened to that of a head of cabbage 🙂
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