Human Life International on the final passage of the RH bill

HLI Statement on the Final Passage of the RH Bill in the Philippines

FRONT ROYAL, Virginia – The following is a statement from Father Shenan J. Boquet, President of Human Life International, on the final passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill in both houses of Congress Monday in the Philippines. The bill is expected to be signed into law by President Benigno Aquino as soon as Christmas. 

“This is terrible news for the Philippines and for the world. The wealthy Western elites who find in the children of the developing world only a threat to be eliminated appear to have won their most coveted crown. They used their billions to exploit the famously corrupt political environment of the last pro-life and pro-family nation in Asia. 

“Several Catholic bishops and many priests of the Philippines have been strong and vocal in their opposition to this destructive bill, and they have welcomed support from other religious groups as well. We hope that the Catholic Church in the Philippines will redouble her efforts to publicly protect the faithful, and that she will support lay leaders and politicians who will continue the fight on the streets and in the courts. The battle is not over, it is only entering a new stage. 

“It is extremely important that this principle be kept in mind: compromise with evil never leads to unity. Going forward it is worth taking note of what happened when contraception was widely adopted in the United States and there were calls within the Church for compromise with the culture, as if it were the Church’s responsibility to conform itself to the age. (cf. Rom 12)

“First, the calls to fully legalize abortion immediately increased, despite the assurances of the promoters of contraception that its acceptance would lead to a cease fire in the already raging war over abortion. Not only did this cease fire not happen, but there were no grounds on which the Church could effectively oppose its legalization. We now have some of the most liberal national abortion laws in the world. 

“What also followed was not a period of peace and acceptance of the Church. Instead we saw only increased attacks on the faith, the confusion and departure of many of the faithful, and the diminishing of the Church’s moral authority. The compromise that many sought within the Church did not lead to greater collegiality, it led to greater division and attack. 

“The only true unity will occur in charity and truth. We cannot accept false compromises from those who seek the marginalization of the Church and the Filipino family, and those Catholic politicians who supported the RH Bill should know that there are spiritual consequences for doing so. 

“Prayer and fasting remain the greatest weapons in our arsenal, and will help shape the practical steps that must be taken. Human Life International stands proudly with the Church and the champions of life and family in the Philippines as the battle enters this new stage.”

About HLI: Human Life International: For the Glory of God and defense of Life, Faith and Family. Founded in 1981, HLI is the world’s largest international pro-life and pro-family organization, with affiliates and associates in over 80 countries on six continents. www.hli.org  

Human Life International on the RH bill vote

From the website of HLI:

Dark Day for the Philippines Following RH Bill Vote

FRONT ROYAL, Virginia – The following is a statement from Father Shenan J. Boquet, president of Human Life International, on the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill (113-Yes, 104-No, 3-Abstentions) upon the second reading of the bill in the House of Representatives of the Philippines. 

"This is a very dark day for the Philippines and for the fight for life and family around the world. The corruption of the legislative process that has been on full display leading up to this vote should trouble anyone who values open and accountable governments. President Aquino and other proponents of the bill have not only shown disdain for the faith that most of them profess, but also for women's health and for the nation's economic future.

"The irony to all of this is that much of the reasoning from the bill's supporters is that birth rates must come down if the Philippines is to join the ranks of the prosperous developed nations. They make this case even though these supposedly developed nations are all suffering a terrible financial downturn due in large part to curtailed population growth, and many are even trying to pay their citizens to have more children. Countries with stable governments, dynamic free markets and educated citizenry are thriving even though they are more densely populated. The RH Bill does nothing to address the nation's corruption, infrastructure and education deficiencies, and thus offers nothing in the way of prosperity other than large cash payments from Western governments and NGOs who see Filipino children as a threat to their own prosperity."

The House is scheduled to have a third reading of the bill on Monday, December 17, and another version of the RH Bill has also been scheduled for a vote in the Senate next week. Philippine President Benigno Aquino, an ardent supporter of the legislation, hopes to sign a final version of the bill into law by the end of the year.

"If this was about lowering maternal mortality rates they would be building hospitals, developing education programs for women and training birth attendants. That is not what they're doing, and this is not about women's health. Nor is it about lowering the rate of HIV/AIDS. This is about stopping Filipino children from being born, and as has been the case in every other nation that has widely accepted the contraceptive mentality, abortion is right around the corner.

"The chances of stopping the bill at this point may seem slim, but nothing is impossible with God. We pray with greater urgency that the Lord of Life will spare the people of the Philippines from joining in the slow demographic suicide of the supposedly developed nations, and will intervene in miraculous fashion."

About HLI: Human Life International: For the Glory of God and defense of Life, Faith and Family. Founded in 1981, HLI is the world’s largest international pro-life and pro-family organization, with affiliates and associates in over 80 countries on six continents. www.hli.org  

Prayers for Today (updated)

This prayer will remain on top of the blog until the end of December 12, 2012. Newer posts will be below the post immediately after this. 

The following prayer comes from Human Life International:

The following prayer comes from I Oppose the RH Bill on Facebook:

URGENT PRAYER FOR OUR CAUSE AGAINST THE RH BILL

(+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen)

Almighty God, we thank You for You willed for us to be the People that the Devil cannot trick, as it did tricked Eve. We thank You for You gave us a Spirit-guided conscience that knew how the Ancient Enemy works, so we can distinguish the works of the Devil from what You want. We are battling today against the RH Bill that promises the bounty of worldly life, the selfish bodily satisfaction and to the delightful heights of personal freedom, but is a sure road to the meltdown of our morality and of the righteous and noble picture of sexual intimacy and the holiness of the body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit and an inseparable aspect of our personhood. It cannot give us the life that You desire for us, a life of self-giving and self-restraint, of sacrifice and of good virtues. Most especially, the FULLNESS of Life promised by Your Son Jesus Christ, a blessed life that remains in Your Love for us, and in our Love for You. We realized that happiness cannot help us. Riches cannot help us. Comfort cannot help us. Personal choices cannot help us, if all of these are received without Your favor and blessings.

We had been outwitted by the Devil again and again, but we acclaim that in every earthly battle against the Devil with You, we can never loose. If it even goes to the point of hurt, offense, getting ridiculed and destroyed, our earthly battle promises a heavenly reward and cheers of the chosen ones from age to age. Whatever happens Lord, as long as we do and follow Your will, in the end we believe we shall receive the glorious crown as victors of the faith.

May our Mother, The Lady of Guadalupe, protect us and meet us along the way, as she meet the worried Juan Diego. May she assure us of the Blessing of Heaven, which comes from her Son and Your Only Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, from your company of the Most Holy Trinity. 

This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.

HLI Documentary versus the RH Bill now online

Human Life International's documentary on the fight against the RH bill in the Philippines can now be viewed on the following page:

The Philippines: Preserving a Culture of Life

Depopulating the Philippines

From CBCP for Life

RH coercion in PH part of Western depopulation agenda – US prolifers

MANILA, September 11, 2011–Developing nations around the globe have been working to fight off cultural imperialism which parts of the Western world have been pushing through imposed population control — and the Philippines is not spared from this anti-life agenda, said American culture of life advocates.

“There are similarities between the situation in the Philippines and what we see in other nations worldwide — many, many millions of dollars are sent from the US and Europe to promote the RH agenda in an attempt to stop people in the developing world from having children,” said Stephen Phelan, Human Life International (HLI) Communications Director.

“The RH promoters do whatever they have to do to get these things passed — they spend their money in promotion, in getting journalists on their side, opening clinics to circumvent pro-life laws, wooing politicians who value their own power more than they do the families and culture of the nation they represent. If they can’t get what they want — which is free-of-charge and full access to contraception and abortion — passed democratically, they will use the courts or other non-democratic means to get what they want.”

The “reproductive health” (RH) issue has been the subject of numerous news reports, surveys and television debates since the start of the year, and mass actions demonstrating opposition to the RH bills have been carried out in different parts of the Philippines. And House Bill 4244 and Senate Bill 2865, both in the period of interpellation, have been taken up in both chambers of Congress consistently since President Benigno Aquino III issued a directive in August to prioritize the pending measures despite the public outcry against these from faith-based groups, civic and family organizations, and medical and child development experts.

“Ordinary people don’t want their governments passing anti-life, anti-family legislation. That’s why these measures can only be passed when government officials force their will on the people. That’s what happened in the United States in 2010 with “Obamacare” — which expanded taxpayer-funded abortions, despite massive public opposition — and it’s the same tactic President Aquino is trying now in the Philippines,” observed John Jansen, Director of Generations for Life, the youth arm of the Pro-Life Action League.

“[RH promoters] have unlimited money, and they are very patient, and they try to convince people that if they want the “respect” — really the funding — of the wealthy nations, they will do what they’re told and put structures in place to stop having children. They will exploit corruption in government especially,” Phelan pointed out.

“They know that history shows that you can sneak or force these policies through, then eventually people will come around to the idea that happiness is not in children and families, but in having more wealth and things,” the HLI official added.

Pro-lifers putting up a strong fight

He observed that the Philippine president, however, seemed “very frustrated” and embarrassed in front of international colleagues because “he hasn’t been able to force this bill through. He and his allies are promising hundreds of millions in ‘aid’ and all kinds of worldly accolades if he can just get Filipinos to do what they’re told. He has even adopted the tactic of tying legitimate reforms and development policies to the radical RH policies. It turns out that Filipinos who love life and family are more sophisticated and more united than the pro-RH crowd thought, and they are putting up a strong fight.”

This strong fight as well as the entire backdrop of the fight against “reproductive health” in the country is the subject of “The Philippines: Preserving a Culture of Life,” an HLI-produced documentary which debuted to Philippine and American audiences in August and which features interviews with prominent pro-life crusaders including Dr. Ligaya Acosta, herself a former RH believer as a Department of Health (DOH) employee for almost 30 years.

Despite the “millions of dollars” being poured into forcing RH into the local culture, significant revelations have been made at the Senate and House debates on the legislative measures, such as RH backers’ use of outdated and bloated numbers on maternal mortality and abortion rates, the admission by a pro-RH congresswoman that the RH bill is a population control measure, and the abortion advocacy of at least three pro-RH groups.

But the Philippines is not the only nation fighting imposed demographic targets and working to uphold the culture of life, Jansen stated, and people with faith especially have the necessary means to beat those forcing anti-life, anti-family values on others.

“Without a doubt, the same scenario is playing out in developing countries all over the world,” the Generations for Life official said.

“The morally decadent countries of the Western world have been pushing population control for decades, and the pro-abortion forces have seemingly no reservations about manipulating data — or even resorting to outright lies — if it serves their agenda. Opposition to the pro-life movement is extremely well-funded, and so the only way that people of faith can hope to prevail is by relying on God’s help by being devoted to prayer and penance.” (CBCP for Life)

"It is a population measure but it's not population control." Huh?

Here's more proof of the incoherent and muddled thinking behind the RH bill.

This happened less than 2 weeks after the pro-RH Population Commission had gone on record as denying that the RH bill is a population control bill. 

From Human Life International (HLI) World Watch:

RH Bill “Definitely” Population Control Admits Co-Sponsor
BY ADAM CASSANDRA – AUGUST 25, 2011

As debate over the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill continued Wednesday in the Philippine House of Representatives, a co-sponsor of the bill admitted that the RH Bill was a means to control the population size of poor Filipinos in apparent contradiction to statements made by other bill sponsors. 

Rep. Kimi Cojuangco of the Pangasinan province, a co-sponsor of the bill, admitted that the RH Bill, widely criticized by Filipino pro-lifers and the Catholic Church, was a means of population control during an exchange with Rep. Ma. Milagros Magsaysay of Zambales. 

Rep. Cojuangco’s admission was a surprise to her co-RH Bill supporters, and she quickly tried to backtrack on her statements. 

According to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for Life blog, the dialogue took place as follows: 

“Is [the RH bill] a population measure?” asked Rep. Magsaysay. “Of course,” responded Rep. Cojuangco  

“Of course? It’s a population measure? To curb poverty, do you need to curb population? In your eyes?” asked Rep. Magsaysay.  

“Definitely,” said Rep. Cojuangco.  

“In other words, you are contradicting the position of all your other co-sponsors there who said that this is not a population measure, that this is not a poverty alleviation measure,” said Rep. Magsaysay.  

Rep. Cojuangco then paused for a few seconds before saying, “Well, it’s not a population… ay, it is a population measure but it’s not population control.”  

After a few more moments of silence in the hall, Cojuangco insisted, “It’s a population measure but it’s not population control.” 

Filipino pro-lifers insist that the RH Bill seeks to impose a Western population control agenda through contraception and other “reproductive health” services. Startling provisions in the bill would also fine or jail opponents of the bill’s programs if they were to give “false or misleading” information about the bill. 

Philippine Senate Majority Leader Vicente Soto recently expressed concern over the “sinister” population control motives of some of the bill’s backers. 

“We find groups, NGOs, pharmaceutical companies or business interests behind the bill or supporting people behind the bill, so this adds to our fears,” Sotto said. 

Sotto cited the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines as among the groups lobbying for the passage of the RH bill. The organization is the largest non-government family planning group in the country, and a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) founded by Margaret Sanger, according to Sotto. 

“She (Sanger) is the inventor or founder of eugenics and eugenics is the scientific strategy of eliminating the poor, the weak, the useless and the uneducated,” Sotto stressed. 

The bill also directly contradicts the protections of life and family guaranteed in the Philippine constitution according to Article 2 Section 12: 

The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution. It shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception. 

Human Life International recently produced a short documentary film, “The Philippines: Preserving a Culture of Life,” that highlights the fight against the RH Bill as one of the most dramatic social and political struggles for life and family in the world. The film premiered on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) in the Philippines last week, and is currently playing in the United States and Canada. The next scheduled air date is Friday, August 26 at 9:00pm EST.

The RH Bill: Interference with Philippine sovereignty

How Western agencies are using billions to foist their population agenda on Flipinos

BY DR. LIGAYA ACOSTA

Monday, Jun 06, 2011

Dr. Ligaya Acosta

Co-authored with Stephen Phelan

June 6, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Many Catholics around the world have become aware of the goings-on in the Philippines, perhaps the most Catholic and pro-life country in the world. Thanks primarily to the strong and united leadership of our faithful bishops, Filipinos have been successful in fighting off a sustained assault from the West in the form of a “Reproductive Health (RH)” bill that threatens the families and future of the Philippines. But the bill’s proponents seem undaunted and incredibly well-funded, so we wanted to help Catholics around the world understand the situation on the ground, and ask for your prayers and support.

The Philippines does not need and does not want the RH bill. It is a foreign imposition, the contents of which are alien to Filipino values and culture.

The vast majority of Filipinos oppose the bill, as proven by the many huge rallies over the country – the biggest of which saw almost 500,000 gather in Manila last March. The same bill has been filed and re-filed since 1998’s 11th Congress (it is now the 15th), but as we have seen, its Western promoters have no intention of taking ‘no’ for an answer this time around.

Why, one might ask, does it keep reappearing, sometimes with different names or slightly revised content, if the people of the Philippines have so clearly rejected it? It reappears because it is fueled by mind-boggling amounts of money from international population control organizations, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), who have long expressed their concern that there are too many poor Filipinos for their comfort. Most recently, the European Union added to the pot, promising 35 million euros as a further enticement for the Philippines to embrace the desired “health reforms.” These groups have essentially bottomless bank accounts, and will not stop until they have reduced Filipino fertility to levels that they are comfortable with.