Answer the following questions and post your answers here. Cite references if possible.
1. What is your opinion about the practice of family planning? Are you for it or against it?
I am completely for family planning, and I believe that couples should have the freedom to make decisions and take action to achieve their desired family size. Defined as “having the desired number of children and when you want to have them by using safe and effective modern methods,” family planning is proven to be beneficial for the entire family—the mother, the father, and the children (Department of Health, n.d.). The use of contraceptives not only prevents unwanted pregnancies and pregnancy-related health risks for women but also lessens infant mortality rate through birth spacing (World Health Organization, 2020). Aside from population control, family planning also has socio-economic benefits as a smaller family size will enable couples to save a higher percentage of their income, allowing them to invest some of it in education and infrastructure, leading to increased productivity of the economy, greater employment, and higher incomes (Population Media Center, 2021). Mentioning all the advantages and benefits of family planning, I do not see any reason for me to be against family planning or discourage the use of contraceptives.
2. Are you in favor of the Reproductive Health Law and its provisions? Elaborate on your answer.
Yes, I am in favor of the Reproductive Health Law and its provisions. The RH law was passed by the government with the aim to manage overpopulation and address poverty. It guarantees easy access to contraceptives while also mandating sex education in government schools, among other things; it truly is a groundbreaking law. However, it seems as if there have been major problems with the implementation of the law because of the fact that we were only able to reach a Contraceptive Prevalence Rate of 40% in 2019, which was still far from the target of 50%. It was also found that the estimated 6,000,000 couples that need contraceptives do not have realistic access to contraceptives. These serve as evidence that the implementation of the RH Law needs to be strengthened significantly in order for us to achieve our target goals.
References:
Department of Health. (n.d.). What are the benefits of using family planning? Department of Health website. Retrieved February 22, 2022, from https://doh.gov.ph/faqs/What-are-the-benefits-of-using-family-planning
Goldberg, J. (2014, April 8). Philippine Supreme Court upholds historic Reproductive Health Law. Center for Reproductive Rights. Retrieved February 23, 2022, from https://reproductiverights.org/philippine-supreme-court-upholds-historic-reproductive-health-law/
Philippine Daily Inquirer. (2019, March 31). More teeth for RH law. INQUIRER.net. Retrieved February 23, 2022, from https://opinion.inquirer.net/120464/more-teeth-for-rh-law
Thurston, M. (2021, February 18). The economic benefits of family planning: A cost-benefit analysis. Population Media Center. Retrieved February 22, 2022, from https://info.populationmedia.org/blog/the-economic-benefits-of-family-planning-a-cost-benefit-analysis
World Health Organization. (2020, November 9). Family planning/contraception methods. World Health Organization. Retrieved February 22, 2022, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/family-planning-contraception