PLCPD disputes groups seeking condom ad ban

Non-government organizations supporting family planning programs and policies questioned Thursday the proposal of the AIDS-FREE Philippines, Human Life International and Family Media Advocacy Foundation to ban advertisements on condoms. “Which is really offensive, promoting responsible decisions or withholding the right to informed choice of the people?" said Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation (PLCPD). The organizations proposing for the condom ads ban described the advertisements as “offensive to public morals" and that it promotes a “condom-lifestyle" among Filipinos. “These ads do not suggest that people engage in sex but merely inform people that condom use is one method to plan families, avoid teenage pregnancies and prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS," San Pascual said. He said what would be more offensive is if people “continue to ignore these realities and withhold information that may possibly save the lives of individuals, mothers and even the young people." The 2006 Family Planning Survey of the National Statistics Office showed that actual total fertility rate (TFR) of 3.2 is higher than wanted fertility rate of 2.5. This means that Filipino couples have one more child than they would have wanted. It also says that one in six women wants family planning but are not practicing any family planning method. Lack of information and access to high-quality family planning services are some of the reasons why there is a low contraceptive use. The United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization had issued a statement that said that condoms were “the best defense" in preventing sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. According to a study by US Center for Disease Control (CDC) examining sexually active people at high risk for contracting HIV, it was found that “even with repeated sexual contact, 98-100% of those people who used latex condoms correctly and consistently did not become infected." The same groups calling for the ban has also threatened to take their complaint directly to the Supreme Court, which was also frowned upon by some women’s groups. Lawyer Claire A.P. Luczon, executive director of the Women’s Legal Education, Advocacy and Defense (WOMENLEAD) Foundation, Inc said: “This is another one of those countless efforts of some groups to force others who do not share their values to conform to their way of thinking, speaking and acting." WOMENLEAD is a legal resource institution working on women’s reproductive rights issues, “They are asking the courts to ban the condom ads on TV on the ground that these ads offend the community’s sense of propriety, decency and morals [but] we think that their position is untenable," Luczon said. Luczon said the petitioners are virtually curtailing the condom companies’ right to free expression, which is a highly protected right in a democratic country like the Philippines. According to Luczon, the petitioners were not in a position "to determine unilaterally what is the community’s sense of propriety, decency and morality." She added that these groups are not at all being sensitive because what they want is to curtail the rights of the people to make an informed choice on matters concerning their reproductive health. - GMANews.TV