Couples for Christ Foundation for Family & Life, Inc.

COUPLES FOR CHRIST– USA, INC.
(Affiliated with Couples for Christ - Foundation for Family & Life)

STATEMENT OF OPPOSITION TO THE PHILIPPINES’ PENDING REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL OF 2008, HB5043

Couples for Christ – USA, through its National Council, and affiliated with Couples for Christ - Foundation for Family & Life, hereby releases this official position of our ecclesial community here in the U.S., in declaring a strong opposition to the Philippine Legislators' pending House Bill No. 5043 or known by its title:

“AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A NATIONAL POLICY ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, RESPONSIBLE PARENTHOOD AND POPULATION DEVELOPMENT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”

We, the members of Couples for Christ – USA, standing squarely with our brethren in Couples for Christ – FFL in the Philippines and throughout the world, hereby vigorously object to proponents of HB 5043 who are pressing to have this bill pass into law in our beloved Philippines. We are appalled at the scope and extent of HB 5043 that goes against the very core of who we are as a people with our long-standing identity as the most Christian nation in Asia. We shudder to think that this bill, if passed as law, will have far- reaching negative implications on the moral fiber of the Filipino people, not only on the basic unit of Philippine society, the family, but also in corrupting the morality of Filipino youth – the hope of the Fatherland. And so we, as Couples for Christ – USA, affiliated with CFC-FFL, hereby declare the following:

We reject HB 5043’s plan to limit the number of dependent children for each family from four (4) to two (2) because it maliciously tampers with the God-given size intended for each family through enactment of man-made tax disincentive policies that result in coercion of the Filipino people.
We reject the proposal to redefine when life begins in the womb – from conception to implantation – because it is not only in error biologically but is also deceptive in its intention to create a window for allowing abortion through the so-called “morning after pill”.
We reject the labeling of contraceptives as essential medicines because they do not save lives or bring about a cure; and furthermore it is wrong to regard pregnancy as a disease that needs to be prevented or terminated.
We reject the proposal to make illegal any act of speaking against HB 5043 punishable by fines and/or imprisonment because it violates human constitutional and religious expression rights as well as the right to assemble and the right of free speech – which is the same right that the proponents of this bill used to advance this bill in Congress.
We reject equating the malevolent concept of Family Planning with Responsible Parenthood for it deceptively impresses on parents that it is morally acceptable and beneficial to limit their number of children through contraception and/or surgical means.
We reject the proposed Reproductive Health Program for we see it as a mere pretext for profitability of drug companies selling contraceptives and abortifacients which threaten the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of women and hold in the balance the life of the unborn.
We reject government-sponsored sex education that may be imposed upon our young children because its secular and clinical approach could result in further fanning of the fires of curiosity and experimentation by the young devoid of guilt unlike timely Christian education that teaches the role of sexuality in its proper context in marriage.

It was not too long ago before WW II when the United States of America had a strong moral fiber as a nation built from strong God-fearing families with conservative and traditional Christian moral values. How quickly that changed when the pill was first approved for contraceptive use in the U.S. in 1960, and became quickly a very popular form of birth control. The pill is currently used by almost 12 million women in the U.S. and by more than 100 million women worldwide. From that narrow crack in the window of liberalism, the U.S. next allowed abortion rights in 1973 through Roe v. Wade which has killed an average of 1.15 million unborn babies every year totaling about 40 million lives lost since the landmark Supreme Court decision. Now the U.S. with its permissive liberal population in big cities has already began to approve in certain states same-sex marriage, assisted suicide, state-sponsored sex education of young children, and are threatening to pass other over-the-top legislation such as embryonic stem cell research and euthanasia.

Let us learn from the mistakes of the United States as well as other first-world countries that are now experiencing the ill effects of widespread and aggressive contraception and sterilization among both sexes and the merciless killing of babies in their mother’s womb which we believe spawned the sexual revolution, hard core pornography, the break-up of families, and the current deterioration of American society.

LET US PRAY, that our legislators may see the light and be guided by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in protecting and defending the life of the unborn, that in turn strengthens the bonds of the family, and strengthens the Philippine society. Our Lady of Guadalupe, heavy with the Baby Jesus in your womb, pray for us and our beloved country, the Philippines, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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