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Pope Benedict's permitting the use of condoms can be considered the first step towards the liberalization of the Catholic Church

Press Statements

 

While Pope Benedict’s permitting the use of condoms to prevent infection of HIV-AIDS is not an open endorsement of the RH bill, it can be considered the first step towards the liberalization by the Catholic Church of contraceptive use for health reasons.

 The prevention and treatment of HIV-AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases is one of the major concerns provided for in the RH bill.

 The recent pronouncement of Pope Benedict is a far departure from the previous total ban on the use of contraceptives and is a backtracking from the Church position that condoms help spread HIV-AIDS.

 Now, it is condoms to prevent HIV-AIDS infections, but later it could be contraceptives to prevent high-risk pregnancies resulting in countless maternal deaths.

 The death of 500,000 women worldwide annually due to complications related to high risk pregnancies and lack or absence of skilled attendance at childbirth is both an aberration and a gross social injustice.

 According to the National Statistics Office, 11 women die daily of maternal causes and these deaths account for one out of every seven deaths in women of reproductive age in the Philippines, making maternal death a grave risk for women in this age group.

 Both the WHO and the UNFPA have asserted that “one in three deaths relating to pregnancy and childbirth could be avoided if women who wanted to use contraception could access it.”

We need to enact soonest the RH bill to foreclose these needless deaths because the miracle of life should not mean death for so many mothers.