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Bill on family planning won't allow abortion – senator


MANILA, Philippines – The family planning bill pending in Senate would not allow abortion, Senator Pia S. Cayetano told pro-life groups on Monday. "I, as chair of the Committee on Health, assured them that we can even include stronger language in the bill in line with our international commitments, that abortion will not be allowed in the country” Pia said after the second public hearing of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography on Reproductive Health Measures. But Cayetano pointed out that choosing a family planning method is a personal matter, and the Catholic Church should not dictate to the government which method it should promote. "The bills don't dictate that everyone use artificial contraception," she said in Filipino. "What they're saying is that people can choose between natural or artificial family planning. The reason for this is that women and their families have different needs. These choices are based on age, on needs, on circumstances." Cayetano is also alarm during the hearing over the increasing number of overseas Filipinos who have acquired HIV/AIDS. She said the government would be doing a great disservice to families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) if it would avoid a policy supporting artificial contraceptives, noting the alarming increase of HIV and AIDS among OFWs. She disclosed that around 25 percent of cases of HIV/AIDS in the country are brought about by OFWs, who get the disease abroad. The OFWs have sex with their wives who then are exposed to HIV. Their wives also become positive for HIV, become pregnant, and give birth to children infected with HIV/AIDS. This is something that could not be addressed if the government promotes only natural contraception, Cayetano said. In Monday's hearing, the reproductive health bill got the support all the government agencies that were represented, including the Department of Health, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Education, and the Commission on Population. "What we made clear in this hearing is that we fully respect the views of all religions and it is up to each religious group to espouse their views among their faithful," Cayetano said."But to impose those views on the government, that I feel is an intrusion on government's separation from the church." She also criticized the stance of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, saying: "We have a President who is clearly just following the Catholic Church line. That is her prerogative as a person, but it should not be her policy as the head of state." - D’Jay Lazaro, GMANews.TV
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