Population Control Issues

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Cayetano says Sotto's issues on RH bill already been addressed
PhilStar
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - A rehash of old issues, all of which have already been addressed during the debates.

This was how Sen. Pia Cayetano described the issues raised by Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III during his presentation last Monday for the turno en contra the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

Cayetano said she commiserated with Sotto on the loss of his infant son 37 years ago as she also lost her own son nine months after he was born.

Sotto broke down in tears after relaying what happened to his son, which he used to conclude the first part of his four-part presentation against the RH bill.

“Anyone who lost a child deserves compassion and I approached Sen. Sotto because I know the pain of losing a child. It’s nothing that anyone who has not experienced can understand. So I expressed my condolences on the anniversary of the death of his son. I know that pain and I took the opportunity to also share with him my experiences because we have that bond that we lost a child. It’s very painful,” Cayetano said.

However, she said her experience was different from that of Sotto. Cayetano said the death of her son was in no way related to the use of contraceptives.

In fact, Cayetano said she only started using contraceptives after the death of her son Gabriel because she could not bear getting pregnant again after the ordeal.

Cayetano also noted the issues raised by Sotto have all been addressed during the extensive period of interpellations where she answered them point-for-point.

Sotto said he was convinced the death of his son was due to the use of contraceptives by his wife, actress Helen Gamboa, because it led to complications, specifically a weak heart.

But Cayetano said there is no scientific basis for such a claim.

“I’d like to also say that I would prefer that you talk to medical experts because we have really done a lot of research, and I have never come across any well-founded research on this,” she said.

“There is no well-founded belief, there is no grounded research that shows that children with disabilities… there is no evidence that shows that link between the use of contraceptives and birth defects and disabilities,” she added.

Cayetano conceded there are side effects when using contraceptives, just like every other drug on the market but what is important in the case of the RH bill is that the doctors would inform the women about which type of contraceptives would best serve their purposes.

“All of the issues that Senator Sotto raised have been settled in the previous interpellations,” Cayetano said.

“He did not raise anything new that has not been resolved in session, including the issue of the 11 mothers per day (who die in the country due to complications from pregnancy),” she added.

Sotto has refused to accept the data presented by the pro-RH groups. He said the claims were not supported by any reliable survey.

Cayetano, on the other hand, said she had the data and she had shown them to Sotto before.

“So it’s there and if some people choose not to believe it, you can go out for yourselves and do the counting. But the statistics are there to show us that these are realities,” Cayetano said.

Instead of continuing the debate with Sotto regarding the issues he raised and will be raising in his turno, Cayetano said she would just come out with a written response to all of the issues, which have been raised before.

‘Sotto Misinformed’

Iloilo Rep. Jeanette Garin, one of the principal authors of the RH bill at the House of Representatives, said Sotto was apparently misinformed on the issues.

“I pity him. He (Sotto) has been suffering for the past 37 years, blaming contraceptive pills taken by his wife for the death of their son,” Garin said in a television interview.

Garin, a medical doctor, said it could not have been the contraceptives that killed Sotto’s son.

“He probably had a congenital disease, that’s why he needed daily blood transfusion,” she explained.

Garin said the Sotto couple should have considered suing the doctor who blamed the pills for their son’s death.

As for the senator’s claim that his wife got pregnant even when she was using pills, Garin said Gamboa might have used them the wrong way.

“That’s why we need to enact the RH bill so that the government could inform, educate those intending to use contraceptives on the proper way of using them,” Garin said.

Garin disagreed with Sotto that one could be infected with sexually transmitted diseases even with the use of condoms.

“That’s not true. Even the Pope has declared that condoms are safe to use to prevent the spread of such diseases,” she said.

Garin denied that the RH bill would promote abortion, saying such false information is being spread by those opposed to the measure.

Critics led by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) urged the faithful to continue to fight the RH bill.

Church leaders said they would persistently push for the truth and reveal the ills that the measure may cause the society.

“In the face of a well-funded campaign to have the RH Bill passed as envisioned by foreign institutions, and despite the undeserved attacks it is reaping, the Catholic Church stands firm in its resolve to fight this deadly measure at every turn and no matter the cost – all for love of God, flock, and country,” the CBCP said in a statement.

“We urge all devoted Catholics to unite against the bill. Intensify your prayers and let your voices be heard and your actions seen against this deadly measure. Truth is on our side,” it said.

[Manila-X]

Sotto taunts ex-DOH chief: You’re callous, insensitive
By Cathy C. Yamsuan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
2:50 am | Wednesday, August 15th, 2012

Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Tuesday described as callous and insensitive former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral’s challenge for him to produce the death certificate of his son.

Cabral issued the dare a day after Sotto revealed in the first part of a turno en contra speech on the reproductive health (RH) bill that his firstborn, a son named Vincent Paul lived for only five months because his wife Helen took contraceptive pills but still got pregnant.

Sotto said a doctor later confirmed that the pills that Helen had taken caused Vincent to be born with a weak heart that required daily blood transfusions.

Cabral sent the Inquirer a copy of her reaction to Sotto’s disclosure. She noted that Helen’s obstetrician, Dr. Carmen Enverga-Santos, died many years ago and “cannot confirm or belie” the senator’s claim.

“However, an inspection of the hospital records and death certificate of Vincent Paul may help show the real cause of his death. I hope the good senator will make these public,” Cabral said.

She stressed that artificial methods of birth control including condoms, contraceptives and IUDs “have not been shown by scientific methods to cause ‘weak hearts’ in babies any more than brushing or not brushing your teeth in the morning has been shown to cause ‘weak hearts’ in babies.”

Sympathy for Sotto

“Is she implying that I’m lying about the death of my son? If Doctor Cabral is challenging me then I am ready to declare war,” Sotto said in a text message.

“Her reaction speaks more about her more than about me. Will she lie if she lost a child? She’s too callous and insensitive,” he added.

Sotto asked Cabral to read “The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed On Women” by Barbara Seaman that mentioned studies proving that mothers who got pregnant while on the pill “have more abnormal children (with) lower I.Q.”

Sen. Pia Cayetano, principal author of the RH bill, told reporters on Tuesday she sympathized with Sotto.

Cayetano said she wasn’t on contraceptives when she gave birth to her son who was later diagnosed with a chromosomal disorder.

Lots of research

“In the seventies, they did not have the capacity to diagnose it the way they did when my child was born in 2000. My son… had a hole in his heart and large kidneys, cleft lip and cleft palate, and was perceived to be deaf and blind. But it had nothing to do with contraceptives,” Cayetano said.

She said she had done a lot of research but saw no relationship between child disabilities and the use of contraceptive pills.

“There is no well-founded belief, there is no grounded research that shows that children with disabilities—and I put this on record in the Senate during the interpellation with Senator [Lito] Lapid, and again, I also commiserate with him, because I also lost a child—there is no evidence that shows that link,” Cayetano said.

“All the issues that Senator Sotto raised have been settled in the previous interpellation,” she said.

[Manila-X]

Bishop sends gifts to solons; CBCP sticks to guns on RH
By Gil C. Cabacungan, Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer
2:41 am | Wednesday, August 15th, 2012

Archbishop Ramon Arguelles has taken a different tack in the Church crusade against the population control bill, sending congressmen gifts of religious trinkets and images of the Blessed Virgin Mary hoping those pushing for the measure would have a change of heart.

“Forgive me if in the past, due to the issues I as a Church servant have to uphold, I might have spoken uncharitably even to and about some of our government leaders,” Arguelles said in a letter that accompanied the gifts.

“Hoping and pleading for your kind understanding for this little attempt to reach you and humbly assuring you of our great respect and great expectations,” he added.

But not so the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). It maintained its defiant stance against the reproductive health (RH) bill.

In a strongly worded statement, the CBCP on Tuesday slammed the Aquino administration’s display of “naked power” and “unbridled resort to foul tactics” in a surprise vote on Tuesday last week to stop debates on the bill. The CBCP likened the move to the blitzkrieg fashion in which the lawmakers impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Lack of quorum

The lack of quorum prevented the House from starting the period of amendments Tuesday. “If there are no people, it means they have no support,” Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez said of the proponents of the measure.

Arguelles had criticized President Aquino’s endorsement of the RH bill as “selective ‘matuwid na daan (straight path)’ program” and his push for Congress to speed up action on the measure as a “bad omen.”

“Aquino declared an open war, a head-on collision against us and against the Catholic Church. So terrible, so blatantly Aquino missed the point,” said the archbishop of Lipa a week before Congress abruptly voted on Aug. 6 to end the debates and proceed to the next battleground—the period of amendments.

Gifts denounced

“Of course not all our lawmakers are Catholics. But I appeal to Muslim legislators to accept this image of the woman they also look up highly in the Holy Book. To others, please, do not be offended but feel free to return the gift to us. This is just a sign of our assurance of prayers that Congress will do what is truly right,” Arguelles said in his letter.

Malabon Rep. Josephine Lacson-Noel on Tuesday said that she and other lawmakers were surprised by Arguelles’ gifts, which were ostensibly meant to sway their stand on the RH bill.

She said all the lawmakers received the gifts, including her husband, An-Waray Rep. Florencio Noel, who is opposed to the RH bill, and those belonging to other religious groups.

Pangasinan Rep. Kimi Cojuangco said she would display her gift in her office “as a reminder of my resolve to help pass the RH bill so that Filipino women, just like the Virgin Mary, will be given a better chance for a better life.”

Diwa Rep. Emmiline Aglipay, who received a pendant with an engraved image of the Virgin Mary, said her support for the bill was not about personal beliefs but about the obligations of the state.

“I am a Catholic congresswoman not a congresswoman of the Catholic Church,” Aglipay said in a text message.

Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said: “I’m returning it, like I would return a monetary bribe. What does Arguelles think this is—the Middle Ages, when the Church could buy souls with indulgences?”

The CBCP, which declined to comment on the bill last week to focus on helping the flood victims, blasted the Aquino administration and its allies for abruptly ending the debates on Aug. 6, a day ahead of schedule.

When no one was looking

The CBCP said the move was “remarkable in its stealth and swiftness.”

“It came a full day too soon, just when no one was looking,” it said, referring to the preoccupation with the monsoon flooding.

“We are dismayed by the display of naked power. We lament the unilateral disregard of prior agreement in the pursuit of selfish goals. We detest the unbridled resort to foul tactics.”

The CBCP also called pro-RH bill legislators as “schemers” and described Mr. Aquino as an “intrusive” President. The CBCP said Aquino’s hand was clearly seen in the House, given the haste at which the bill was deliberated.

The prelates said the tactics used by the administration were “reminiscent of the events leading to the impeachment proceedings” against Corona, who was later removed.

Pork as bait

In a forum on Tuesday, CBCP president Jose Palma said there were reports that the administration dangled the pork barrel to lawmakers to gain their support.

He warned the administration against using the pork barrel to get the votes for the bill.

“This is owned by the people,” he said. “It should be given whether you are pro or anti-RH bill.”

Also Tuesday, an 11-page declaration signed by 160 faculty members of Ateneo de Manila University was released to reporters.

It called on lawmakers to “muster the courage and wisdom to vote (for the RH bill), not on the basis of vested interests, but in the service of the Filipino people and especially the poor from whom they derive and to whom they owe their mandate.”

“We believe that the key principles of the RH bill are compatible with core principles of Catholic social teaching, such as the sanctity of human life, dignity of the human person, the preferential option for the poor, integral human development, human rights, and the primacy of conscience,” the paper said.

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A micro perspective on the RH bill
Business World
http://www.bworldonline.com/content....-bill&id=56788

IN AN INTERVIEW, Ricardo Lagos Escobar, former president of Chile, said that in democracies, politicians are used to thinking about the next election. To be a leader, he said, one has to think about the next generation, not the next election.

With no next election to worry about, perhaps this is why President PNoy has taken a firm position to officially support responsible parenthood, as provided for in the Reproductive Health Bill. He is thinking about future generations of Filipinos.

In taking this position, he has earned the ire of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, despite the fact that survey after survey affirms that the large majority of the Filipino people are in favor of modern family planning methods.

Well, the Catholic Church hierarchy has often been stubborn to recognize scientific realities. This is why it excommunicated the astronomer Copernicus and his disciple Galileo for believing that the earth revolved around the sun and not the other way around. It took almost half a millennium for the Church to acknowledge its error. For much of his life, the brilliant mystical theologian Jean Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was not allowed to write (and we were not allowed to read him), because he believed in evolution.

For me, the Reproductive Health Bill is not so much about population control as it is about enabling the future Filipino family to be healthier and better able to take care of its members. The focus is on the poor, in accordance with the Philippine government’s inclusive goal of a better life for all.

Recent demographic health surveys have found that the top quintile in income (20%) of families have an average of 1.9 children; and the lowest quintile, or the poorest 20% have an average of 5.2 children, of which half come from unwanted pregnancies. It is for this reason that the Philippines has almost half a million illegal abortions each year. This is a criminal situation that cannot be allowed to continue. Mothers die bleeding in emergency rooms where they are rushed when an abortion turns out to be a botched job. Fetuses are found in garbage dumps. This is a criminal situation that cannot be allowed to continue.

Some 230 women die in the Philippines for every 100,000 live births, compared with 110 in Thailand, 62 in Malaysia and 14 in Singapore, according to United Nations figures. We are way behind in our Millennium Development Goals (MDG) commitment to reduce this to 55 per 100,000 live births by 2015. In fact, our numbers have grown higher from closer to 150 in earlier studies. This means that one mother in every 435 childbirths ends up dying. This is a criminal situation that cannot be allowed to continue.

The RH bill doesn’t even define limits to the size of families; it merely ensures that families have the freedom to decide whether they should have another pregnancy, sooner rather than later, or at all. It intends to enable couples to select methods by which they can express loving intimacy with each other, while at the same time enjoying the freedom of deciding the size of their families.

The well-to-do have this freedom. They have financial capability to acquire scientifically tested products and services; and they have easy access to such services because in general they live in urban areas which readily provide such products and services. They also have easy access to physicians who can provide counsel on the advisability of using such products and services.

The poor, especially the rural poor, do not have such ready access. Their daughters begin having children early in their teenage years; and they continue having them until they reach menopause. They cannot even have the freedom to space their children because they do not have the means. Spacing childbearing is another health concern. Frequent pregnancies take a toll on the mother’s health. Unhealthy mothers cannot rear healthy children.

Irresponsible parenthood has led to an increase in maternal deaths in the Philippines instead of the decrease to which our country has committed in the MDG. When you have more mothers dying before their time, more children become orphans and are deprived of their mother’s care. The poor widower has to scrounge for a living, and has to leave the children to practically fend for themselves. This is another criminal situation that cannot be allowed to continue.

The RH Bill does not prohibit the use of natural family planning methods, which the theoretically celibate Catholic Church leaders should know if they are not in denial, have been proven to be largely ineffective. They should listen to their parishioners. Nonetheless, the RH Bill includes promotion of natural family planning methods as one of the options that are to be provided for those who prefer it.

When couples are able to manage the size of their families to their desired level, their options for their children’s future are widened. Their children can be better fed, become healthier, and better educated, thus better able to care for their own future families. They also have more time to pay attention to their children as they are growing up.

I cannot understand the intensity of the official Church’s position on the RH Bill. It seems to have become the standard for morality. Crooked politicians are now blessed, if they vote against the RH Bill. And responsible politicians who support it are being condemned. We need to regain our perspective on this issue. Other Christian and non-Christian denominations are clearly in support of the RH Bill.

The scientific and medical communities have a wealth of research studies confirming the safety of the pill, the condom, and other modern family planning methods. If rabid pro-life activists study them with an open mind, they would not be so intense in their objections. They might then be able to see more clearly the harm that we are doing our future generations, when we do not give their parents and grandparents the freedom to choose. We have hemmed and hawed long enough. This is why it is time to pass the RH Bill.

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The other benefit - RH Bill will help economy reach ‘sweet spot’
By: Ernesto M. Pernia
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://opinion.inquirer.net/34749/rh...ach-sweet-spot

“Demographic sweet spot” is becoming a buzzphrase in business and political circles and the media, thanks to British international bank HSBC’s bold prognosis early this year on the Philippine economy’s rise to global prominence by 2050. This was essentially echoed by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. at the Euromoney forum late in March and by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima around the Asian Development Bank annual general meeting early in May, and reechoed in a comment in the Wall Street Journal (7/24/12).

HSBC predicted that the Philippines would vault 27 rungs to become the world’s 16th largest economy, just one off Russia and distinctly outranking Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Such a prognosis is tied to the Tetangco-Purisima forecast that the economy would hit the “sweet spot” by 2015 as both are attributed to a large population with “a rising proportion of young, consumption-driven workforce” resulting in demographic dividends. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the predictions are pretty iffy as they seem to derive from a misapprehension of demographic-economic dynamics. The development literature says that demographic dividends occur as a result of demographic transition when a country’s total fertility rate (TFR, or average completed number of children per woman) falls sharply from a high toward 2.1 (known as replacement fertility)—such that the working-age (15-64) segment of the population grows faster than the young dependent-age (0-14) share. Imagine a “population pyramid” with a wide base that narrows, resulting in the midsection expanding markedly.

Many of our Asian neighbors have long experienced demographic transition and been gifted with dividends—bigger and more productive work force, larger human capital investment in young dependents, and higher savings and investment rates—altogether leading to faster GDP per capita growth and significantly reduced poverty. These include the older Asian tigers Taiwan and South Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, and the newer ones Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia beginning in the early 1990s or 2000s.

Unfortunately, our country has yet to experience such a demographic-economic halcyon period. Projections by University of the Philippines statistician-economists Dennis Mapa, Arsenio Balisacan et al. (2010) indicate that given the status quo—i.e., no Reproductive Health (RH) program—the Philippines’ TFR would diminish from the current 3.3 to 2.1 by 2030 yet (compared with Thailand’s 1.6 and Indonesia’s 2.1 in 2010). If, however, an RH or family planning (FP) program focused only on unplanned or unwanted fertility (mostly of poor couples) were already in place since 2008, a TFR of 2.1 could be achieved by 2020.

Consider the following demographic data that underscore further how the Philippines has lagged well behind its neighbors in achieving demographic transition. In 1990, Thailand’s working-age population was already 65 percent (and Indonesia 60 percent) of the total population compared with the Philippines’ 56 percent. By 2015, the respective numbers are projected to be 71 percent, 69 percent, and 63 percent, such that our population’s working-age share would still be lower than Thailand’s in 1990!

The flipside, of course, is the proportion of young nonworking dependents, referred to as the dependency burden, which is heaviest for the Philippines: 33 percent in 2010 versus 21 percent for Thailand and 27 percent for Indonesia. By 2015, the Philippines’ burden eases just a bit to 32 percent compared with Thailand’s 19 percent and Indonesia’s 26 percent.

The lesson seems clear. Our progressive Asian neighbors have reaped the demographic-transition bonus by seriously implementing population policies early on that sharply slowed their population growth rates (PGR, evidently related to, but not to be confused with, TFR)—e.g., Thailand’s 0.5 percent and Indonesia’s 1.2 percent versus the Philippines’ 1.9 percent (as of 2008-2010). Slower PGR enabled higher human capital and infrastructure spending, resulting in positive demographic-economic synergies.

HSBC qualifies its prognosis: “There are two ways economies can grow; either add more people to the production line via growth in the working population, or make each individual more productive… Behind these projections we assume governments build on their recent progress and remain solely focused on increasing the living standards for their populations.”

These, of course, are big ifs because making each worker more productive and raising living standards can scarcely be achieved without population management complementing economic policy. For instance, partly due to a lack of a clear population policy in the Philippines, investment in human capital per student has been declining in real terms and worker productivity has been slipping. Meanwhile, calls for a firm population policy since our early FP program stalled in the late 1970s have gone unheeded and stymied by church-state politics.

The sooner the RH bill is passed and implemented, the faster the economy can hit the “sweet spot.” The naysayers are, of course, quick to say that that would bring about the aging problem sooner. It’s actually a common fallacy, because after reaching replacement fertility, a population continues to grow owing to demographic momentum typically for another 70 years or so before it stabilizes.

“All told, RH programs offer a win-win solution. They lift the well-being of individual women and children, and benefit the economy and the environment as well” (30 UP economists, Inquirer, 7/29/12).


Ernesto M. Pernia is with the UP School of Economics and is former lead economist of the ADB.

[louiegi]

and when is that?

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RH debate: Let reason prevail
Val G. Abelgas
Philippines Today
http://www.philippinestodayus.com/vi...eason-prevail/

“Be a listening Church,” a professor of Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University, Mary Racelis, said as she appealed to irate bishops to “listen to the laity who understand what the families and the women from the grassroots are going through.”

Racelis was reacting to the adamant protests of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) against the Reproductive Health Bill, who have moved mountains and threatened its supporters with heavenly damnation in decades-long efforts to stop any kind of family planning.

Fr. Ranhillo Callangan Aquino, a law dean at the San Beda College who writes a weekly column for the Manila Standard, last year also called for sobriety and rationality in the RH Bill debate, and demanded that the Roman Catholic Church should be ready to convince the people – Catholics and non-Catholics alike – that the use of artificial means of contraception is not acceptable.

Fr. Aquino challenged his fellow priests to “study philosophy and theology more assiduously —and to engage skeptics as well as well-intentioned men and women who do not share our faith in intellectual dialogue, and to be prepared with arguments that can win the attention and the respect of those who have no patience with, or regard for Scriptural quotations.”

He added, “If the only response the Church can give (against the use of artificial means of contraception) is “Humanae Vitae” and the consistent teaching of the popes and of most (certainly not all!) bishops, then that is not good enough an argument for the public sphere.”

Another law dean-priest, Fr. Joaquin Bernas, said in his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer about the RH Bill: “I am dismayed by preachers telling parishioners that support for the RH bill ipso facto is a serious sin or merits excommunication! I find this to be irresponsible.”

Sen. Edgardo Angara also urged the local Roman Catholic Church to keep in step with the times instead of propagating “outdated, unprogressive ideas.” He said that if the Catholic Church confines itself to pulpit preaching and does not back this up with social action, then it will lose its moral authority.

The CBCP apparently would have none of these appeals for rationality because despite the low turnout in a pro-Life rally organized by the CBCP at the Luneta on the eve of a vote in the House of Representatives to end the RH Bill debate, the bishops continue to threaten the bill’s congressional supporters that they would suffer the wrath of the scorned Church in the 2013 elections.

For years, proponents of family planning have attempted to pass a law that would slow down the Philippines’ 2.04% annual population growth rate, one of the highest in the world and the highest in Asia, but strong opposition from the Church had shot down all the proposals. The bill sponsors could not get enough votes to even bring the measure to the floor for deliberations because of the constant threat by the Church to campaign against lawmakers and officials who would support the proposed law.

The Church is again risking its influence over the Filipino Catholics by openly campaigning against the RH Bill supporters. In the 2010 presidential election, candidate Benigno S. Aquino III stood his ground against the bishops in supporting the RH Bill and won.

The bishops refuse to accept the fact that in surveys after surveys, 65% to 69% of Filipinos expressed support for the bill. The Church also ignores the stark realities in the Philippines – an almost 100 million population that the government’s scarce resources can hardly support, an ever-increasing poverty rate currently pegged at 33%, a malnutrition rate of 26%, and 15 women lost each day to maternal death, and 79,000 backroom abortions each year.

The Church cannot impose on the government its belief that any kind of birth control method other than the natural method should not be allowed. The government has the responsibility to arrest the rapid population growth in the same manner that the Church has the responsibility to promote the spiritual well being of its faithful according to the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church.

Obviously, the Church will not back down on its stand. On the other hand, the government must not turn its back on its responsibility to promote the general welfare of the people, which includes keeping the population within the limits of what the government can provide in terms of basic services and what the economy can support.

To honor the separation between Church and State, let the State implement a Reproductive Health Bill that’s acceptable to the people, whether they are Catholics or not, and let the Church tell its faithful to stick to the natural method of contraception and reject any other means. After all, the proposed RH Bill does not aim to impose the use of any kind of contraceptive. It only aims to inform the people of their options with regards to planning the size of their family, and to assist them once they have made their choice. I don’t see any problem with that arrangement, unless the Church is no longer confident that its dogma can hold its own against reality and reason.


Well said! That's actually how it should be!

[red_jasper]

Pro-RH bill solons agree to delete controversial provisions

Here are some of the provisions that the pro-RH bill lawmakers agreed to delete or change in the bill during the period of amendments:

1. Delete Section 20 of the bill which discusses the ideal family size. The provision tasks the State to "encourage" couples to have "two children as the ideal family size." Lagman said they have decided to "completely delete the provision on the ideal family size, which is not even punitive and compulsory."

2. Delete Section 21 of the bill which discusses employers' responsibilities. HB 4244 requires companies with at least 200 employees "to provide reproductive health services to its employees." Lagman said they can do away with this provision because this is already contained in the Labor Code.

3. Delete the provision that prohibits people from peddling "malicious disinformation" on the bill. The Church attacked this provision as a gag order on people who oppose the measure. Lagman said they agreed to delete it. "We don’t want to curtail freedom of expression. If any trangsgrression is made, we have our libel laws," he said.

4. Amend Section 15, which requires district representatives to use their pork barrel to fund the proposed "Mobile Health Care Service," a van or other means transportation that will deliver health care supplies and services to coastal and mountainous areas. Lagman said they will amend it so that the funds will come from the national government.

5. Include a provision that will relax the responsibilities of hospitals owned by the religious.

Full story here

[Manila-X]

Lawmakers score anew in derailing RH bill
By Karen Boncocan
INQUIRER.net
8:19 pm | Wednesday, August 15th, 2012

MANILA, Philippines—Anti-RH lawmakers on Wednesday again managed to further delay passage of the proposed controversial measure, a day after a failed attempt to open the Reproductive Health Bill to amendments.

Even with 152 members of the House of Representatives present on the floor, forming a quorum, lawmakers pushing for the start of amendments on House Bill 4244 failed anew.

This time, known anti-RH Paranaque Representative Roilo Golez was determined to block the opening of the period of amendments, insisting and being allowed to make his privileged speech on the recent devastation caused by the southwest monsoon. Once allowed, he questioned why the RH Bill was more discussed on the floor than the extent of destruction caused by the heavy rains and massive floods.

Golez;s privileged speech followed that of Cebu Rep. Benhur Salimbangon, which dealt with the steep power rates. Both speeches were opposed by lawmakers trying to begin the period of amendments on the RH Bill.

RH Bill proponent Iloilo Representative Janette Garin tried to bar Golez’s speech, saying that it was just a delaying tactic so that HB 4244 would not be opened to amendments.

After being allowed to make his speech, Golez then moved to have deliberations on the RH Bill suspended. His motion was, however, left hanging when session was suspended and later adjourned.

Earlier on Tuesday, Palawan Rep. Dennis Socrates prevented the RH Bill from being opened to amendments when he insisted to make a privileged speech on the changed schedule on voting for the proposed measure’s termination of debates last August 6, instead of August 7.

Lawmakers will resume session on August 28 due to the observance of holidays including the Eid’l Fitr on August 20, the Ninoy Aquino Day on August 21 and the National Heroes Day on August 27.

[Manila-X]

Sotto bares int’l groups pressuring PH to pass RH bill
By Kate Evangelista
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:01 pm | Wednesday, August 15th, 2012

MANILA, Philippines – Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III on Wednesday said that several international organizations are pushing for the passage of the RH bill in the Philippines because these groups have ulterior motives.

In the second part of his turno en contra speech on the pending Reproductive Health bill, which he delivered during the Senate’s plenary session on Wednesday, Sotto identified organizations like United States Agency for International Development, World Health Organization, World Bank and all economic agencies, the United Nations, United Nations Population Fund, the International Planned Parenthood Federation

“The strong pressure and the massive propaganda materials emanating from various groups cannot simply be put aside. They have been doing everything to impose their hidden agenda through the RH bill,” Sotto said.

“The proponents of the bill admitted that they sought the assistance of various non-government organizations specifically to learn about the effects of certain procedures or nuances of terminologies used in the bill. This in effect gave these organizations the opportunity to incorporate their distorted beliefs and principles in the bill,” he added.

Among the agenda of these organizations is pushing for the reduction of the world’s population particularly in less developed countries.

“United Nations agencies are using UN resources to advocate their agenda on a local level in order to bypass cultural and religious resistance. Gamal Serour, president of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), reported that UNFPA has a program in 25 countries to lobby religious leaders into dropping objections to the agenda. These programs are aimed at “re-educating” religious leaders and convincing them to accept their population control programs. UN Secretariat released a report from the UN Human Rights Council calling on all nations to accept that women and girls must be granted access to legal abortion in order for them to fully enjoy their human rights,” Sotto said in his speech.

Meanwhile, Sotto accepted the challenge of former health secretary Esperanza Cabral who demanded that he show the death certificate of his first born son who he claimed died as an infant due to complications caused by side-effects of contraceptives.

Sotto said he will give a copy to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and to Cabral.

“I would like to take exception to the statements made by Dr. Cabral and to a certain extent by Congresswoman Garin, in reaction, to my disclosure and confession on the death of my first son, Vincent Paul. I find their statements callous and insensitive and it is unfortunate that the reproductive health debate has come to this level. They should have given the sorrow of my family more respect,” he said in his speech.

[whatuwan]

Sometimes i wonder why these backwards-thinking Anti-RH politicians are elected into office.

[Nabartek]

4. Amend Section 15, which requires district representatives to use their pork barrel to fund the proposed "Mobile Health Care Service," a van or other means transportation that will deliver health care supplies and services to coastal and mountainous areas. Lagman said they will amend it so that the funds will come from the national government.

This should have NOT been deleted. It is better for pork barrels to go to health programs rather than beautiful "welcome to [city/province]" signs. Unless they want their pork barrel to be redirected to the military for purchase of equipment.

They should delete instead making contraceptives (oral) OTC because most oral contraceptives have steroids. Steroids can be lethal or cancel out other meds effectiveness if taken with other medication. Oral contraceptives should be taken with the guidance of a doctor.

On the other hand, INTERNATIONAL groups should stop sticking their noses in our population issue. This is OUR problem and while they are welcome encourage better population management, they should not pressure us in anything.

---

Personally, I don't think it's our population growth that is preventing us from developing. We were better off economically when we had higher birthrate (around 5%). Now, we're at about 2% growth rate. Our problem is our thieving politicians and income inequality. Sad to say, in SEA, we have one of the highest income gap. We have a culture of elitism that convinces the elite to close themselves (just think of the "gated communities") from the "masa".

I'm not against an RH bill, family planning. I just think some politicians are making use of population to cover their irresponsibility in handling the inequity.

Also, maybe we should look into per province birthrate/growthrate to know where to concentrate family planning promotions.

Only five regions had growth rates higher than the national rate. These are NCR (2.11 percent), Region III (2.36 percent), Region IVA (3.21 percent), Region XII (2.41 percent), and ARMM (5.46 percent).

http://www.philembassy-seoul.com/news_details.asp?id=66

ARMM is twice the national average.

It is interesting to note that CAR provinces in general have lower population growth rate (except for Baguio since a lot of people tend to immigrate there) has a birthrate lower than the national average despite the lack of facilities and access to information and being one of the poorest region with quite a high poverty rate outside Baguio-Benguet. Some even less than 1% in some provinces. Could it be cultural? Contrary to popular myth, most Cordilleras are Christians by faith.

http://www.census.gov.ph/data/census2007/index.html

Stark contrast in population growth rate for the poorest regions in the country.

Neglected regions in North Luzon have lower than the national average growth rate.

Looking at the chart, it looks like most regions have below the national average growth rate especially those outside greater Manila and the Tagalog region. Spme provinces even registered negative growth rate. The problem is there are a few regions, about 2 or 3, that has a population growth rate MORE THAN TWICE the national average . Just look at SOCSARGEN and ARMM. I think the national government should concentrate promoting family planning in these areas. They're like 5% growth rate, the national average in the 60's.

I think most regions are doing good in promoting family planning even without the RH bill. However, there are those who have not done their homework. In the 90's and early 2000, the DOH had a large campaign on family planning. Nothing that is disagreeable with the Church, but more of advising parents to plan the # of children they can afford to raise.

Now, I think what the Philippines do seriously need a HEALTHCARE reform which will include RH provisions. We do not really have a good healthcare program. Even middle class people are struggling with healthcare.

[sicnarf]

Sotto's anti-RH speech copied from US blogger who writes about recipes



August 15, 2012 11:07pm

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...-about-recipes

Sen. Tito Sotto's emotional story on the Senate floor last Monday about the death of his son may have come from his heart, but at least one lengthy passage from his speech came from someone else's blog.

Sotto's description of the purported ill effects of birth control pills on unborn children was lifted nearly word for word from the blog of "Sarah, the healthy home economist," a US-based writer who also opposes vaccines for children and offers recipes for goodies like grain-free pumpkin cookies.

Sotto did not attribute any of his words or research to "Sarah, the healthy home economist," whose disclaimer cautions that "the nutritional and other information on this website are not intended to be and do not constitute health care or medical advice."

The plagiarism was first exposed by Alfredo Melgar on the blog Filipino freethinkers.

Here is a comparison of Sotto’s speech and Sarah’s blog:

1. Sotto’s speech (from second to last paragraph):

“According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, the use of the pill also causes severe gut dysbiosis. What is worse, drug induced gut imbalance is especially intractable and resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change.”

Sarah’s blog:

“According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, use of other drugs such as the Pill also cause severe gut dybiosis. What’s worse, drug induced gut imbalance is especially intractable and resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change.”

2. Sotto’s speech:

“Gut imbalance brought on through use of the pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a woman eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, if she has been taking oral contraceptives for a period of time beforehand, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of all this healthy food as the lack of beneficial flora in her gut preclude this from occurring.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Gut imbalance brought on through use of The Pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a women eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, if she has been taking oral contraceptives for a period of time beforehand, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of all this healthy food as the lack of beneficial flora in her gut preclude this from occurring.”

3. Sotto’s speech:

“Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that take hold in the gut when the pill is used constantly produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and they have the potential to cross the placenta. Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxin.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that take hold in the gut when The Pill is used constantly produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and guess what, they have the potential to cross the placenta! Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxins.”

4. Sotto’s speech:

“Not well known is also the fact that use of the pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called 'the intelligence mineral' as it is intimately involved in mental development.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Not well known is the fact that use of The Pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called 'the intelligence mineral' as it is intimately involved in mental development.”

— DVM/HS, GMA News

[manila_eye]

wow naman. plagiarizer pala si sotto. therefore wala syang credibility

[red_jasper]

Dear Sen. Sotto
by: ATTY. TRIXIE CRUZ-ANGELES

In 1999 I conceived and gave birth to a baby girl who happened to have VACTRL association, a non-random clustering of birth defects. Becca had anal atresia, esophageal fistula and vertebral anomalies. In layman’s terms, she had no anus, her esophagus dead ended in the middle of her abdominal cavity and her spinal cord was snagged in several parts of the spinal column. The doctors say there was no identifiable cause. There was no chromosomal problem. This does not run in families.

In short, we, her parents, lost the genetic lottery.

She died of pneumonia arising from surgical complications. The pain was of the most profound nature that echoes in me to this day. And for every baby I see, I still think a thousand thoughts about what might have been. And yes, like you, I still cry over her, thirteen years after her death. So believe me when I say, I understand your pain.

What you do with your pain, however, is what I do not understand.

It is your claim that the birth control pills your wife took resulted in an unplanned, complicated pregnancy and subsequent birth of a child with birth defects that resulted in an infant death. As I have no means of ascertaining the truth or falsity of that statement, I will, for the moment assume that it is true. That much I will give to you.

Since your experience in the 1970s, advances in modern medicines have given us birth control that are far safer than the ones Helen Gamboa took. In fact, there are different ones now. In a few years, perhaps there will already be a male version of the Pill, if there isn’t one already. There are means of determining what forms of birth control are compatible with each person’s biological make up, tests to conduct, adjustments in dosage, injectibles and others that weren’t in the realm of imagination 37 years ago. By now, it is safe to say that the strides in scientific research and discoveries have given us far safer alternatives to the few that were available to you when your wife was of child bearing age.

So while I understand that you feel it is your obligation to spare other parents the pain of the loss of a child, I would like to tell you that the conditions that led to your loss then may not be the same conditions prevailing now. Even more so, I would like to point out that the genetic, physiological or chemical factors that may have led your wife to deliver a child with a weak heart may not be shared by the vast majority of the population. To insist that your experience will potentially be shared by everyone who uses birth control is illogical and presumes that only one factor led to your child’s death.

Furthermore, to argue as though there were no intervening 37 years between your experience is to take a stand of immutability and say that nothing, not you, not medicine, not values or mores has changed in 37 years, and that all conditions of environment, technology and population needs remain the same. They aren’t. Even conditions now will change. For instance, in a few months or years, you may no longer be senator and in control of legislation that could mean life or death for other people.

Which brings me to life and death. While contraception for you means the death of your infant son, for others, it spells the difference between maternal life or death. Women in poor communities who can ill afford to feed, house and clothe children who cannot have access to means of preventing pregnancies end up having more children and endangering their own health and survival. Impoverished women have poor children. Poor women, who themselves have barely enough to eat will have little to feed their own children. Is it not the height of insensitivity to tell these poor women that you will spare them the potential deaths of their children if that death is due to birth control, but you will do nothing to help them prevent their own deaths from too many pregnancies or their potential children’s deaths due to starvation or malnutrition?

You say you wanted a son badly then. Your son was lucky. He was wanted and loved. Every child should be so loved and so wanted. But if you deny people access to birth control too many children will not be. I see many of them everyday, living on the streets, sleeping on sidewalks, starving and constantly in life threatening situations from sexual predators, car accidents, opportunistic criminal syndicates. There are so many of them all trying to survive that many tend to see them as problems and no longer as people, and regardless of age or innocence, they are seen as juvenile criminals. Nobody seems to want them, not even their parents who should have wanted them the way you wanted and loved the son you lost.

If you must give meaning to your son’s death, let it be that it has given Filipino children and their parents the quality of life they deserve, let it be for every child to be wanted and cared for and loved. Wouldn’t that be a better monument to your son?

Here

[TambayBlues]

Looks like Bloomberg is also Pro-RH.


Philippines' Economic Plan - Seven Inches of Latex

The Philippines is offering a timely case study on religion's role in encouraging growth and reducing poverty -- and how it is not always for the better.

The Catholic Church essentially has a stranglehold over family-planning services in a nation of 104 million people in which one in four lives on less than $1.25 a day. The role of overpopulation is major reason: Economic gains in the Philippines aren't keeping pace with a high birthrate.

Church officials have long suppressed any discussion of providing broader access to condoms, birth-control pills and other contraceptives. The good news is that President Benigno Aquino III isn't just speaking out on the issue, he is advancing 14-year-old legislation to fund free family planning.

The 9,000 nuns, priests and churchgoers wearing red clothes who rallied in Manila last weekend to oppose the bill aren't happy. Neither is world welterweight boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, who has led criticism of the proposal on religious grounds.

Development economists will be ecstatic, though. Former World Bank official William Easterly, for example, calls population control the "elixir" that helps poor countries become rich. "The most unprepossessing candidate for the Holy Grail of prosperity is seven inches of latex: a condom," Easterly wrote in his 2001 book "The Elusive Quest for Growth."

Philippine officials play up the nation's demographics every chance they get. Thirty-four percent of the population is under the age of 15, compared with 17 percent in China and 13 percent in Japan. Yet swelling ranks of young workers are a plus only when an economy uses them. Because the Philippines isn't creating enough good-paying jobs at home, more and more young people are heading overseas to work and send money back home. These remittances have become a national addiction.

Hats off to Aquino for having the courage and foresight to tackle a problem his predecessors avoided. While endorsement of the family-planning bill still requires a final House vote and Senate approval, Aquino is displaying a firm grasp of what ails his economy as it seeks an investment-grade credit rating.

[Christian_123]

Originally Posted by sicnarf

Sotto's anti-RH speech copied from US blogger who writes about recipes



August 15, 2012 11:07pm

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...-about-recipes

Sen. Tito Sotto's emotional story on the Senate floor last Monday about the death of his son may have come from his heart, but at least one lengthy passage from his speech came from someone else's blog.

Sotto's description of the purported ill effects of birth control pills on unborn children was lifted nearly word for word from the blog of "Sarah, the healthy home economist," a US-based writer who also opposes vaccines for children and offers recipes for goodies like grain-free pumpkin cookies.

Sotto did not attribute any of his words or research to "Sarah, the healthy home economist," whose disclaimer cautions that "the nutritional and other information on this website are not intended to be and do not constitute health care or medical advice."

The plagiarism was first exposed by Alfredo Melgar on the blog Filipino freethinkers.

Here is a comparison of Sotto’s speech and Sarah’s blog:

1. Sotto’s speech (from second to last paragraph):

“According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, the use of the pill also causes severe gut dysbiosis. What is worse, drug induced gut imbalance is especially intractable and resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change.”

Sarah’s blog:

“According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, use of other drugs such as the Pill also cause severe gut dybiosis. What’s worse, drug induced gut imbalance is especially intractable and resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change.”

2. Sotto’s speech:

“Gut imbalance brought on through use of the pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a woman eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, if she has been taking oral contraceptives for a period of time beforehand, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of all this healthy food as the lack of beneficial flora in her gut preclude this from occurring.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Gut imbalance brought on through use of The Pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a women eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, if she has been taking oral contraceptives for a period of time beforehand, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of all this healthy food as the lack of beneficial flora in her gut preclude this from occurring.”

3. Sotto’s speech:

“Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that take hold in the gut when the pill is used constantly produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and they have the potential to cross the placenta. Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxin.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that take hold in the gut when The Pill is used constantly produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and guess what, they have the potential to cross the placenta! Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxins.”

4. Sotto’s speech:

“Not well known is also the fact that use of the pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called 'the intelligence mineral' as it is intimately involved in mental development.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Not well known is the fact that use of The Pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called 'the intelligence mineral' as it is intimately involved in mental development.”

— DVM/HS, GMA News

Haha! Galit sya sa mga pirata tapos yun pala mamimirata din sya.


Walang kredebilidad si sotto mula nuon pa, lalo pang bumagsak ang kredebilidad nya un pinatawag nya si Ely buendia at E-heads back in 1995- 1996 dahil sa kantang "Alapaap"...


Ngayon, lalo pa nyang binabaon ang palpak nyang kredebilidad dahil dito sa RH Bill na 'to.


Please tito sen, sa eat bulaga ka nalang at lumayas ka na sa Senado dahil sayang ang tax money namin sayo.

[Nabartek]

Originally Posted by red_jasper

Dear Sen. Sotto
by: ATTY. TRIXIE CRUZ-ANGELES



Here

Reading this, I think we should allow abortion given certain circumstances like this and well, when one gets raped and get pregnant.

Sometimes, it's better and more merciful to have a baby aborted than being born without anus and some other stuff that would let one have a normal life.

[peejay202]

Originally Posted by Nabartek

Reading this, I think we should allow abortion given certain circumstances like this and well, when one gets raped and get pregnant.

Sometimes, it's better and more merciful to have a baby aborted than being born without anus and some other stuff that would let one have a normal life.

Absolutely NO!! How would you feel if you're mother is the one who got raped and she wants to abort you..

We have already what we call Emergency Contraceptive Pills or ECPS (most popularly known as "morning-after pills") which are drugs that are intended to disrupt ovulation or fertilization, which are steps necessary for pregnancy. We have women and child emergency crisis centers available in most hospitals that offer these services.

Abortion on the other hand, is the termination of a viable fetus.. It's murder.

I am pro-RH but I don't believe in abortion.. Every human being has the right to LIFE regardless of the circumstances behind it (e.g. rape).

[3cr]

Yup that's where I draw the line too. Ibang usapan na yon. NO to Abortion. Yes to RH Bill.


Wonder what sorry ass excuse will Sen. Sotto give for his blatant plagiarism of Sara's Blog in his nationally televised “turno en contra” speech?
Shame on him for having the audacity and arrogance to do such a thing. Sen. Sotto should resign if there is any decency left in him.

Sotto’s Reckless Method of Legislation is Inexcusable
http://filipinofreethinkers.org/2012...s-inexcusable/

Senator Tito Sotto suffered a personal loss with the death of his son. We understand his grief. What we cannot understand is why he chose to rely on a blogger to explain his son’s death.

Right before asserting that he lost a child due to contraceptives, Sotto said he has scientific proof about the “damaging effects to children born from mothers who were using contraceptives prior to their pregnancy.” He then went on a lengthy explanation about gut imbalance, opportunistic flora, exposure of the fetus to toxins and zinc depletion.

His scientific proof was copied entirely and almost word-for-word from an article by a blogger calling herself “Sarah, the Healthy Home Economist.”

Do the comparison yourself. See the second to the last paragraph of Sotto’s speech and Sarah’s blog.

Sotto’s speech

Actually, these contraceptives are not just detrimental to women and the unborn. They are scientifically proven to have damaging effects to children born from mothers who were using contraceptives prior to their pregnancy too. According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, the use of the pill also causes severe gut dysbiosis. What is worse, drug induced gut imbalance is especially intractable and resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change. 1 Gut imbalance brought on through use of the pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a woman eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, if she has been taking oral contraceptives for a period of time beforehand, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of all this healthy food as the lack of beneficial flora in her gut preclude this from occurring. 2 Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that take hold in the gut when the pill is used constantly produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and they have the potential to cross the placenta. Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxins. 3 Not well known is also the fact that use of the pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called “the intelligence mineral” as it is intimately involved in mental development. 4

Comparing Sotto's Speech and Sarah’s blog:

1. Sotto’s speech (from second to last paragraph):

“According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, the use of the pill also causes severe gut dysbiosis. What is worse, drug induced gut imbalance is especially intractable and resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change.”

Sarah’s blog:

“According, to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, use of other drugs such as the Pill also cause severe gut dybiosis. What’s worse, drug induced gut imbalance is especially intractable and resistant to treatment either with probiotics or diet change.”

2. Sotto’s speech:

“Gut imbalance brought on through use of the pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a woman eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, if she has been taking oral contraceptives for a period of time beforehand, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of all this healthy food as the lack of beneficial flora in her gut preclude this from occurring.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Gut imbalance brought on through use of The Pill negatively impacts the ability to digest food and absorb nutrients. As a result, even if a women eats spectacularly well during pregnancy, if she has been taking oral contraceptives for a period of time beforehand, it is highly likely that she and her baby are not reaping the full benefits of all this healthy food as the lack of beneficial flora in her gut preclude this from occurring.”

3. Sotto’s speech:

“Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that take hold in the gut when the pill is used constantly produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and they have the potential to cross the placenta. Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxin.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Pathogenic, opportunistic flora that take hold in the gut when The Pill is used constantly produce toxic substances which are the by-products of their metabolism. These toxins leak into the woman’s bloodstream and guess what, they have the potential to cross the placenta! Therefore, gut dysbiosis exposes the fetus to toxins.”

4. Sotto’s speech:

“Not well known is also the fact that use of the pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called 'the intelligence mineral' as it is intimately involved in mental development.”

Sarah’s blog:

“Not well known is the fact that use of The Pill depletes zinc in the body. Zinc is called 'the intelligence mineral' as it is intimately involved in mental development.”


Sotto should know that Sarah has also written several articles against vaccination, with a summary piece entitled “Six Reasons To Say NO to Vaccination” having these two wild and reckless claims:
◦ALL Vaccines are Loaded with Chemicals and other Poisons
◦Fully Vaccinated Children are the Unhealthiest, Most Chronically Ill Children I Know

Sotto should also have read Sarah’s disclaimer on her site which says: “The information on this website is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for the advice provided by your doctor or other health care professional. … The nutritional and other information on this website are not intended to be and do not constitute health care or medical advice.”

Sotto ignored decades of studies and declarations by the World Health Organization and the Department of Health that contraceptives are safe, only to rely on an unknown blogger making wild claims. He even ignored the blogger’s disclaimer. Sotto’s reckless method of legislation is inexcusable.