Reproductive

Health Bill
Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10354)

OCAMPO, JOHN OLIVER D.

1 BSA 2
PSY 100
 Way back in 2012, the Philippine Congress established the Republic Act No. 10354 on
Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health or commonly known as RH Bill/Law and it
was signed into law by the former President Aquino. However, after 10 days of implementation,
the Supreme Court issued a restraining order against the law and suggests a petition to review
and remake a new law itself. The major summary provision of RH bill mandates the government
to promote, without biased, all effective natural and modern methods of family planning that are
medically safe and legal with the use of sterilization and different contraceptives. Moreover, this
law aims to point out about the anti-poverty programs due to the ignorance of many families
about family planning. In addition, RH Bill states that sex education is required to teach from 5th
grade to 4th year high school students to give knowledge about the said topic and also to give
them the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. As a result, RH Bill creates controversial
topic that cause too much discussion from different group of individuals and led to criticism
mostly coming from religious groups.
Based on my perception, many individuals support the implementation of RH Bill in the
Philippines because as the percentage of population increase, the percentage of poverty will also
increase. Under those circumstances, many Filipino families suffered from poverty because of
the lack of knowledge and access about family planning and many of them are unemployed. In
addition, the poorer the household, the higher the number of unwanted pregnancies they might
have. Therefore, the risks of illness and premature deaths for mother when she had too many
children were known to be increased especially for those young mothers. Meanwhile in 2013,
teenage pregnancies were reportedly increased. Aside from lack of knowledge about safe sex and
family planning, many of them are afraid or shy to ask questions and they are closeminded to
think it’s inappropriate for them to hear such things because of their reasons of having an
innocent mind. As a result, they chose to remain ignorant than to have a knowledge about it.
Therefore, the objectives of RH Bill are to eliminate poverty, introduce and create family
planning by having a sex education and introduce the use of contraceptives. So that is why many
individuals support RH Bill because it may not only benefit the families but also our economic
status for reducing the cases of poverty and unwanted pregnancies and also this law offers a win-
win solution to the perspective of the people who is in favor in this law.
On the other hand, if there are in favor of RH Bill, there is who does not in favor with the
law especially those individuals coming from religious groups especially the Catholic Church.
The idea of Contraception and Sterilization under RH Bill was rejected by the Catholic Churches
because it was considered as a sin according to the teaching of Catholic Church. According to
the Bible, “God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth
and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature
that moves on the ground.”–Genesis 1:28. God gave us four instructions; be fruitful, multiply, fill
the earth and have dominion over the other entire creatures. Therefore, according to the
perspective of Catholic Church, there’s no reason or chance to break the word of God.
Given those points, I am in favor with the implementation of RH Bill even though I was
born as a Catholic. Nowadays, we can see the status of our society, and there are some studies
that the Philippine population is still increasing that resulted to increased also the poverty that
our fellow Filipino citizen experiencing today. In fact, majority of the cases of poverty was the
lack of knowledge about sex and unemployed especially those families who belongs to
underprivileged society. So in order to overcome this crisis, RH Bill will give us the solutions to
decrease the poverty rate of the Philippines in terms of family planning and having a protective
sexual intercourse. In addition, RH Bill also promotes other benefits to our society particularly in
prevention of health diseases like HIV and other STDs, Adolescent and youth reproductive
health guidance and counseling, Elimination of violence against women and children and other
forms of sexual and gender-based violence, Treatment of breast and reproductive tract cancers
and other gynecologic conditions and disorders etc. With the help of this law, the economic
status of the Philippines will increase and the crisis about unwanted pregnancies will decrease.