What is your opinion about the practice of family planning? Are you for it or against it?
I am totally for the practice of family planning (FP). I believe that it is a good movement that not only benefits mothers and women alike but also the whole family. In the perspective of the mother, it enables her to regain her health after the strenuous process of giving birth. This in turn gives her opportunities in providing adequate love and attention to her family and personal advancement. Her husband’s responsibility is free from some burden due to the less stress and responsibility in the household. This in turn enables him to provide more for the family. As a result of optimal parenthood, the children become holistically healthy. They receive the attention, security, love, and education that they deserve. This also decreased the prevalence rate of high-risk births and could lead to improved infant nutrition by allowing the mother to breastfeed longer
As the small sectors of the community improve, so does the nation. The practice of family planning controls the problem of overpopulation and scarcity of resources. However, I think health professionals should give more FP options to men. I have observed that FP methods are highly dependent on women when it is common knowledge that pregnancy is a shared responsibility. Hypothetically speaking, if a man has unprotected sex every day for a month, he can impregnate 30 women resulting in 30 children. If a woman has unprotected sex every day for a month, she can only get pregnant once. With this situation, we can clearly see who the focus of contraceptive methods should be. We should emphasize that FP is a combined effort of the family. The Department of Health, as referenced by Baccay (2022), the basic principles of the movement involve responsible parenthood which is the shared responsibility of BOTH spouses to achieve their desired children and anything that involves making it.
Are you in favor of the Reproductive Health Law and its provisions? Elaborate your answer.
Yes, I am in favor of the Reproductive Health Law for it gives accessible reproductive health services and products to everyone, including the marginalized sector. With universal and free access to modern contraception, millions of Filipino women will finally be able to regain control of their fertility, health, and lives. It is also an appropriate response to the growing number of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the country. While poverty has a complex cause, rapid population growth, and high fertility rates, especially among the poor increase this tremendously. Therefore, the implementation of this law is not only good for health but also for the economy.
It almost gave me pleasure that for once we saw sex as a means of providing pleasure for an individual and not a means of procreating. Sadly, this law was challenged by various conservative Catholic groups resulting in the revision of the initial proposal. Due to 80% of Filipino nominally being declared as catholic, these groups suddenly feel that they have a say on what applies to the whole nation. Since they oppose any law that promotes both natural and artificial family planning methods, they believe everyone should as well. What these groups, who are so ‘pro-life’, don’t understand is that they are killing more people by opposing family planning methods encased in the law. According to UNICEF (1992), FP could save the lives of one-fourth to one-half of the 500,000 women who die of maternal causes each year and could prevent the damage caused by high-risk and undesired pregnancies.
I believe that there are still some provisions that are debatable and should be open to discussion. One of which is the need for spousal consent to access reproductive health care for women in non-life-threatening circumstances. I believe that a woman should solely have the choice on what happens to her body, this includes choices made on her reproductive health. Studies have shown that husbands that give consent and have appropriate spousal communication are most likely to use proper family planning methods (Bolarinwa et. al, 2020). However, that is not the case for all. I have seen society filled with insecure and conservative men hiding as narcissistic dominants. Although a man and woman are bound by marriage, some women are committed to close-minded and abusive partners. Nothing would change whether spouses communicate about this matter or not if the spouse's consent is removed for the woman can still decide upon it. A woman would be receiving the consequences and pain of these choices, not the man. Another is the hindrance of sex education being implemented in the curriculum. Doing so just enhances the practice of unsafe sex in minors.
The Reproductive Health Law is the light at the end of this ignorant tunnel if only we ignore the prejudices and the biases. It can save millions of lives and promotes the rights of every individual.
References:
Baccay, K.B. (2020). Responsible parenthood and family planning lecture. [PDF]
Bolarinwa, O., Olagunju, O., & Olaniyan, A. (2020). Influence of Husband Consent to Family Planning and Spousal Communication on the Use of Family Planning among Young Mothers in Peri-Urban, Nigeria. MDPI AG. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202009.0148.v1
UNICEF (1992). Beneficios de la planificacion familiar [Benefits of family planning]. Boletn Asociacin Chilena de Proteccin de la Familia, 28(7-12), 3–5.