What is your opinion about the practice of family planning? Are you for it or against it?
I strongly agree with the practice of family planning, regardless of the type of method of family planning used – whether it be natural or modern, as unwanted childbearing has many negative consequences.
Studies have shown that large families, poverty incidence, and their vulnerability to poverty are all negatively linked to one another. From observing communities and watching the news on television, many poverty-prevalent communities tend to have large families and yet, have resources and finances that could not meet the individual needs of their children, let alone the whole family. Poor-income households with a large number of children tend to become even poorer because of additional expenses to raise each child in the family. In addition, the welfare of the family household is also compromised with a large number of children.
On the other hand, family planning enables every couple to fulfill their right of deciding on their family dynamics, from the number of children they want to have, when they want to have it, and the spacing of each pregnancy. Having the knowledge about the options and opportunities available empowers them by ensuring that they are able to make sensible decisions in the future. This diminishes the fears and prevents the occurrence of unexpected and undesired pregnancies. The expectant parents are able to prepare a substantial budget to support the family’s demands and necessities, ensuring that children are born in a nurturing environment capable of meeting their physical, emotional, social, and economical needs and providing them with the attention, care, and love that they deserve in order to have safe, healthy, and happy growth and developments. Furthermore, it protects an individual’s reproductive health, especially that of women by preventing occurrence of health risks before, during or after childbirth. Thus, family planning is critical in not only increasing household welfare, but also improving the health of children, families, and communities in general.
Are you in favor of the Reproductive Health Law and its provisions? Elaborate your answer.
As a Protestant Christian, I have heard many perspectives opposing the Reproductive Health Law, usually because many believe that it somehow promotes sexual relations prior to marriage by integrating sex education into the curriculum. Nevertheless, I believe differently, and am in favor of this law and its provisions. Seeing the state of poor families in the Philippines having more children than they originally intended or observing the high rates of teenage pregnancies to adolescent women who are not yet ready or capable to provide for a new life, both of which thereby resulting in neglect and abandonment and stripping the innocent child of his/her right to a quality life, love, care, and attention breaks my heart, especially knowing that there are opportunities available nationwide to largely prevent these circumstances from repeatedly occurring.
I truly believe that this law was not made to simply encourage sexual habits at a young age but instead, was implemented to support the need for parents, couples, and individuals, enabling them to decide on the number and spacing of their children freely but responsibly, through well-informed and accessible family planning services. This empowers families to take responsibility for the future of their children, whilst taking into account their own psychological preparedness, health status, socio-cultural, and economic concerns; in this manner, every parent would have no excuse and should be held liable for every child born, hence, promoting a better course of life and nurturing environment conducive to every child’s growth and development.
Moreover, the law provides “universal access to ethical and medically safe, legal, accessible, affordable, non-abortifacient, effective and quality reproductive health care services, methods, devices, and supplies”. This provision promotes safe reproductive and overall health of couples, particularly for women, as it understands that increasing the quality of family planning and promotion of reproductive health – especially on women, the poor, and marginalized – would positively impact maternal and child health as well as safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
Additionally, I also appreciate how the law provides for promotion of both natural and modern family planning in an unbiased manner for a couple’s or individual’s choice. The inclusion of all FDA-approved, medically sound and safe methods allows the rights of parents or couples to be exercised. In this way, their preferences for certain aspects of growing their family, including their cultural and religious beliefs, are respected while still making safe and informed decisions possible.
On the other hand, sex education even at a young age is vital given how often adolescents give in to peer pressure to have sex at an early age. As health professionals, while we do not have the right to enforce our will or that of their families on patients, what we do have control over is our ability to educate teenagers on the full control they have over their own bodies and on the practices of safe sex. Active discourse on reproductive health thereby allows individuals, adolescents, and families to be sexually responsible enough to make informed and wiser decisions.
References:
The Philippine Commission on Women. (2012, July 23). The Responsible Parenthood and
Reproductive Health Act of 2012, Rep. Act No. 10354 (Phil.).
https://pcw.gov.ph/republic-act-10354/