MANILA, Tue Apr 5, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Sexual purity is the best solution to unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, and not the government’s proposed reproductive health bill, according to what the Philippine bishops’ news service said is a “growing” number of youth in the Philippines.

During an interfaith pro-life rally held on March 25 at the Quirino Grandstand, just days before the vote on the RH bill, E J Aguila, 27, a member of the CFC-Youth for Family and Life, told the massive crowd of an estimated 50-100,000 that chastity and abstinence are the answers to STDs and unwanted pregnancies, and not the controversial legislation.

Aguila said onstage that he has chosen to wait until he is married to have sexual relations with the person “God will give me,” reported cbcpnews. He questioned the need for sex education for Filipino youth, and advocated the choice to remain abstinent until marriage.

The various versions of the reproductive health bill, introduced by Filipino legislators and supported by activists funded by Western NGOs during the last decade, sought to fund the widespread disbursement of contraceptives and to introduce sex education in public schools. They are part of an effort to reduce the country’s poverty through population reduction.

Although the newest version of the RH bill, called the “Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act,” failed to pass in the House of Representatives by the end of the current legislative session, the bill will likely be reintroduced in the next session, which begins in May.

Another young woman at the rally told cbcpnews that the RH bill will lead to the abuse of young people, especially women.

Maann Termulo from Youth for Christ (YFC) said that the measures proposed in the RH bill would lead to the objectification of women.

“Women will be used as sex objects when the bill is passed,” she said, adding, “The youth will be led astray because they will think that they are doing the right thing. I hope that they will not be pro-RH bill anymore, but become pro-life.”

Aguila affirmed Termulo’s statement and said he wants to challenge the image of apathetic Filipino youth, stressing that the “the youth do care about life.”

“It is not true that we are pro-RH bill, we are instead Pro-Life,” he said.