House plenary debates on RH bill set for March 1

The controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill will be up for debates at the House of Representatives next week after the committee on rules approved it for plenary discussions on Tuesday. House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, chairperson of the House panel on rules, said the committee has scheduled plenary discussions on the consolidated RH bill on March 1. The approval of the RH bill for plenary debates came a week after the House committee on appropriations approved funding provisions of the controversial measure. Last month, the House committee on family population and relations also approved the contents of a consolidated version of the bill from several measures filed by House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, Akbayan party-list Reps. Arlene Bag-ao and Walden Bello, Muntinlupa City Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco Jr. and Gabriela party-list Reps. Luzviminda Ilagan and Emerenciana de Jesus. Senior Deputy Majority Leader Janette Garin said the plenary debates on the RH bill will be a "true exercise of legislative democracy." "It gives all of us an opportunity to listen to all sides and finally, vote and approve on the proposed measure with amendments accepted," she told reporters Tuesday. Legislative process A majority of all House members is needed to pass the RH bill at the lower chamber and for it to be transmitted to the Senate. At present, the Senate version of the bill remains pending before the committee on health and demography chaired by Senator Pia Cayetano. The Senate can either pass its own version of the bill or adopt the bill passed by the House. After this, the bicameral conference committee will be convened to reconcile the respective versions of the House and Senate. Once the bicameral committee approves the bill, it will be returned to the House and Senate for approval on third reading. It will then be submitted to Malacañang for the signature of the President. Highly debated issue The RH bill has been highly debated by pro-life and pro-choice groups. The Catholic Church promotes only natural family planning and is opposed to the use of artificial birth control methods such as condoms and birth-control pills, saying these could lead to promiscuity and a rise in abortion cases. However, RH advocates maintain that natural family planning methods have not proven to be as reliable as artificial means of birth control. The bill seeks to guarantee "universal access to medically-safe, legal, affordable and quality reproductive health care services, methods, devices, supplies and relevant information." However, Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra said in December last year that according to Catholic teachings, any action that directly or indirectly destroys and kills life is against the Fifth Commandment ("Thou shall not kill") and is thus immoral. He claimed that the orientation of the RH bill is towards: