Sunday, August 15, 2004 Lim: Easy way out By Melanie T. Lim
Rep. Edcel Lagman proposes a bill that seeks to limit the size of Filipino families. And the ultra-conservative sectors of society are up in arms in protest. I am not part of the ultra-conservative but I do believe that “we” should decide the size of our families. Government should not.
The two-child policy is well intentioned but it takes the easy way out of a difficult situation. Instead of attempting to legislate the size of Filipino families, government should educate its citizens on how to safely and effectively limit the size of their families.
The President’s reluctance to embark on a comprehensive population control program is tied to her fears of raising the ire of the powerful Catholic Church.
The Church sees abstinence as the only noble and acceptable means of contraception. Other methods, deemed artificial in nature, are unacceptable, perhaps because they seem to take the easy way out.
But if artificial methods of contraception seem to take “the easy way out” of difficult situations, so do medication, blood transfusion, respirator assistance, organ transplant and all artificial means of life extension. If at conception, human beings must not intervene and let nature take its course, instead, because it is unnatural and sinful, then at the doors of death and disease, are we to keep a distance as well?
Where do we draw the line at what should be seen as natural or artificial, what is human or divine, what is sinful or noble?
I am obviously pro-choice which is why I believe in giving people choices between natural and artificial methods of contraception. And while I understand that abortion is the taking of a life. I cannot lie and say I believe abortion is unwarranted in all cases.
When pregnancy results from rape. When the life of the mother is at stake.
When the mother cannot avoid passing on a defect or illness to the fetus.
When life springs from incest. These decisions are hard to make. But in all of these cases, I believe the woman who carries the fetus in her womb should be allowed to make the decision, without guilt or censure, to continue or terminate her pregnancy.
When a woman makes the difficult but brave decision to abort, she should not have to go to a hole-in-the-wall abortion clinic to terminate her pregnancy because abortion is illegal in her country.
Some people believe that promoting artificial methods of contraception and legalizing abortion will result into a culture of violence and sexual promiscuity. I don’t believe so. I believe that prohibitions will push people to take the forbidden fruit while restrictions will compel people to resort to unsafe and unsavory lifestyles.
If the flock is ingrained with the right values, it will not matter what plethora of choices lie before them, they will make the right choice in the end. Of course, value formation is the more tedious road to take. Giving people choices is the difficult road. The easy way out is to simply NOT give people choices. But is this what God demands of his Church?
I am pro-life. But I am pro-choice first. And this, unfortunately, is not an easy road to take.
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