The Catholic Church will not argue with other religious groups that have expressed support to the controversial Reproductive Health bill currently pending in Congress.
Instead, an official of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said the Church will just focus its anti-RH bill efforts on the House of Representatives.
“[Reproductive health] is a moral issue and therefore all, regardless of faith, sector, who will be affected by the reproductive health bill, have the right to speak on the matter," said CBCP Episcopal Commission on Family and Life executive secretary Fr. Melvin Castro in an article posted Tuesday night on the Union of Catholic Asian News website.
“We will target the legislators. They are the ones who need to be enlightened," he added.
Earlier, Catholic Church officials had questioned President Benigno Aquino III for supporting a Responsible Parenthood Bill that allows artificial contraception. The Church officials, who are in favor only of natural family planning methods, had called for the scrapping of both Aquino's RP bill and the RH bill.
Still, Castro took a dig at RH bill advocates for not calling for the separation of Church and State after the Iglesia Ni Cristo and other religious groups expressed support for the bill.
Aside from the INC, the Interfaith Partnership for the Promotion of Responsible Parenthood Inc., which includes the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, issued a statement calling for the swift passage of the RH bill.
The Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines, a group also supporting the bill, also said they are “certain" the bill “will finally be passed by this Congress."
“They should be consistent… because when it’s the Catholic Church talking, they cry for the separation of Church and State, but when the one talking backs their point of view they keep quiet," Castro said.
“We are all stakeholders in this issue. Everybody has the right to speak, so they should not criticize the Catholic Church if it speaks against [reproductive health]," he added.
But Elizabeth Angsioco, who chairs the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines, said the Catholic hierarchy knows that the bill’s passage is imminent. She said this may be the reason for the "seemingly desperate acts by some bishops and priests against it," UCAN reported. - KBK, GMA News


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