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  • Title: The population debate heats up.
    Author: Malay RL.
    Journal: Rural Reconstr Forum; 1994; (15):20-2. PubMed ID: 12289015.
    Abstract:
    60% of the 65 million people in the Philippines have lived below the poverty line amid overall negative GNP growth for almost a decade. The population is growing at the annual rate of 2.4%. These conditions suggest the urgent need to reduce population growth and take measures to improve the performance of the economy. The big debate in the Philippines regarding population and development, however, is not over the redistribution of resources, but about the morality of managing population growth through the promotion of artificial means of contraception. Roman Catholicism predominates among religions in the Philippines. The Catholic Church in the Philippines, as elsewhere around the world, alleges that artificial contraceptives are abortifacient and that only natural methods should be promoted. Although Health Secretary Dr. Juan M. Flavier, a staunch supporter of family planning, points out that the church and state both abhor abortion, accept natural family planning, and would like to offer a better quality of life to the people, it is clear that the government does not agree with the Church's endorsement of only natural family planning methods. Surveys have found that most Filipinos agree with the government; they are in favor of family planning and feel that the Church should stay out of the debate. A people-centered approach to development and concern for the environment are called for to improve the Filipino quality of life. At the global level, the Vatican has allies among believers of Islam in its position against abortion and in favor of a traditional concept of the family. Despite wrangling at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) over a woman's right to abortion and other contentious issues, such as the objection among Southern states to the ICPD committee's exclusion of the right to family reunification, the ICPD was a success because it gave prime importance to the link between population and sustainable development. The ICPD draft program of action never called for abortion as a means of birth control, but called for the provision of safe abortion services and counseling for unwanted pregnancies and other situations only in countries where abortion is legal. In this context, nongovernmental organizations such as the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement emphasize the role women play in population and development.
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