Family planning revival all set
You only pray and ask for guidance. Then you are told that family planning is a sin
With the booming population contributing to extant poverty, President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday night reiterated his administration’s stand to support family planning through available contraceptive methods.
The Chief Executive, however, expressed strong opposition to abortion, using his
speech before government officials attending the 31st anniversary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) to lambaste Iceland, for allowing the abortion of unborn children up to six months while opposing the President’s war on drugs, which the Nordic island nation says has resulted in the extrajudicial killings (EJK) of Filipinos.
“Abortion is out of the question,” Mr. Duterte said. “I will not allow it.”
Clueless foreigners
“But do you know in Iceland, they allow abortion up to six months?” the President related. “Iceland, which initiated the signature campaign to condemn us for supposed EJK… allows the slaughter of the fetus inside the womb of the mother. Yet, they worry more about the drug lords and pushers who are killing our citizens and creating social dysfunction.”
Iceland legalized abortion on 22 May 1975. It was not allowed to be performed on request, but were allowed in various medical and social circumstances. In May 2019, the Icelandic parliament legalized abortion on demand until week 22 of the pregnancy from the previous 16.
“(Iceland) does not understand our problems,” Mr. Duterte said. “But then, its leaders try to teach us what to do. I am sorry for (them).
Friends to count on
The President said an effective family planning approach is still lacking in government’s programs to address the continuously growing population and the poverty that twins it.
“When Sara and I were visiting farmers in Davao, we asked them, ‘How may kids do you have?’ Six, seven?” Mr. Duterte narrated. “So now, how do we address it? I only know of two presidents who did it. One is President (Fidel) Ramos and I. That’s why I push for land reform.”
“But when I was a mayor, my desk drawer was also full of contraceptive pills. If someone asks for help… for work, I help them. Then, I gave them pills… or advised them to get ligated. No ligation, I could not help them anymore.”
“Monetary support could only get them so far. It could ease the pain for the others who are dying. I have well-meaning friends who help, one of them is Secretary Sonny Dominguez of Finance. But we know we have to hurdle this one,” the President said.
Church doesn’t help
“Your religion could not help you,” Mr. Duterte continued. “You only pray and ask for guidance. Then you are told that family planning is a sin.”
He, however, said he is firm with his intent to start a family planning program in the next three years.
“The only thing lacking is a mechanism to get the program rolling,” he said.
The country’s population stands at 108,343,780 as of late Tuesday, while 21.6 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line in 2015.