(the reproductive health issues)
The Catholic Church in the Philippines through the Bishops’ Conference has
expressed its clear opposition to the RH Bill/Law. Speaking in behalf of
the Conference, Archbishop Socrates Villegas wrote in the 2012 Pastoral Letter
of the CBCP, dated December 15, 2012: “On behalf of the President of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), currently out of the
country, I reiterate the collective discernment of the Philippine Bishops that
the RH Bill if passed into law can harm our nation… The RH Bill is being
gift-wrapped to look like a gift for maternal health care. It is not
so. It will lead to greater crimes against women… We congratulate the one
hundred four (104) congressmen and women who voted NO to the RH Bill. You
have voted courageously, despite all pressures, to stand up for what is right
and true… The truth is that to be pro-child, pro-mother and pro-poor, we must
resist all threats against them. This is justice. Stand up for it;
defend it; do not be swayed by worldly pleasures, and be the champion of the
people who voted for you. God knows and sees what you are doing.”
Basically the main reason for the Church’s stand is that she stands in defense
of the basic rights of man, which are the rights to life, liberty and property.
And therefore those measures that go in contradiction to that basic respect for
life or cause harm to the life of the human being will certainly fall under
that basic 5th of God’s ten commandments: “You shall not kill” (cf. Deut.
5:17). We must be honest with ourselves and not deceive ourselves with
other worldly interests or attractions and excuses that may cost us the eternal
damnation of our souls. As Archbishop Villegas mentions in his statement
above-“God knows and sees what you are doing.”
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