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We, the undersigned, comprised of individuals, various people’s and civil society organizations with membership all over the country, wish to express our support and solidarity with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the umbrella group representing most of the United States’ 57,000 nuns, as they find themselves under attack by the Vatican for not taking a stronger stand against sexual and reproductive health and rights in line with their overall ministry to serve the poor. The LCWR has also been taken to task by the Vatican for not taking explicit positions against homosexuality, euthanasia and women’s ordination.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) last week ordered a new mandate that the LCWR be overseen by a specially appointed archbishop due to the nuns’ statements, which “disagree with or challenge positions taken by the bishops, who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals.”

We believe this crackdown is a result of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy’s wider campaign to silence the public voice of women both within their church and outside of it — locally reflected in the actions of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). We value the LCWR’s commitment to social justice and their right to take a conscientious position against a religious leadership that has shown to be both out of touch and outright hostile to the very idea of women taking a greater role in society.

        

By Elizabeth Fox, Sex and Sensibilities.com Summer Intern

When people mention the Reproductive Health bill, a select number of images probably come to mind. Perhaps a mother, struggling to make ends meet, with five children and a sixth on the way. Perhaps the slums and the sad conditions in which so many Filipinos live. Perhaps the funeral of yet another woman who has died while giving life, just one of an estimated 4700 women annually. Regardless of the image, I can tell you one thing: poverty is probably in there somewhere.

And it’s true, for poor Filipino women, the RH bill contains untold hope and promise. Once passed, it will save lives—hopefully many of those 4700—and make countless more lives easier.

But what if you’re also a woman, though instead of impoverished, you’re well off, you’re well educated, and you already have complete access to the services and resources provided by the bill? It’s easy just to write the whole thing off and say to yourself, “Forget it. This is a poor woman’s bill, not mine.” But it’s high time we all realized that this bill is a lot more than a simple social welfare program affecting a fraction of the population. It is a cause for all of womankind and all of humankind. The RH Bill matters for you too.

To start, one of the most important provisions of the RH bill is mandatory reproductive health and sexuality education. This means that, from grades five to twelve, whether in public school, private school, or an alternative learning center, students will receive age-appropriate, non-fraudulent information about their sexual wellbeing from trained professionals. These classes will not only include lessons about puberty, safe sex, and contraceptive methods, but also lessons about sexual violence, responsible relationships, and children’s and women’s rights. You may say that your son or daughter will be educated about all this at home. But what about the people they become involved with? Can you honestly say that your child’s boyfriend or girlfriend will know to use to a condom, or will know the proper way to treat someone they’re romantically involved with?

The bill also provides for universal access to contraceptives. Not only will this increase your child’s chances of practicing solely safe sex, but it will also allow him or her to make wise decisions about starting a family. You may be perfectly willing to give your teen condoms, but don’t you remember being there yourself? Though this is a sad consequence of adolescence, often embarrassment, regardless of the child’s upbringing, outweighs a desire to make responsible choices. With contraceptives and sexual education easily accessible, your son or daughter will be able to seek information and resources in a situation more anonymous than approaching his or her parents.

But besides your children’s lives, this bill also has a very important effect on your own life—it forces your employer to respect your reproductive rights. As stated in Section 21 of the bill, entitled “Employers’ Responsibilities”, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) shall ensure that all employers provide reproductive health services to their employees, as well as written information regarding the reproductive health benefits in their contracts, and any reproductive hazards associated with their work. Furthermore, all employers must grant their pregnant employees a paid half-day of prenatal medical leave for each month of pregnancy.

Finally, though you may have complete and total access to all the reproductive resources, services, and education you could ever need, the symbolic importance of this bill for all Filipino women—poor, rich, and in between—cannot be ignored. No one is forcing the use of contraceptives; no one is demanding that you renounce your beliefs. All that the bill does is provide you with a choice. Health is a human right. Your body belongs to you and you alone and it is your right to be educated about it, provided with the resources to care for it, and freed to make your own decisions about what you put it through—especially when that decision concerns bringing another person into this world. Your vagina, your rules. If passed, the RH bill will mark a significant victory for supporters of women’s rights everywhere. We may have the vote, we may hold an amazing portion of public offices, but are we really free—each one of us—to take full advantage of our rights as humans and make our own decisions about our own bodies?

If not for the eleven Filipino women who die each day from pregnancy or childbirth related causes, if not for the thousands of others who wish to delay or avoid their next pregnancy, if not for your own children, then for yourselves and for the global cause of womankind and human rights, support the RH bills. It matters for you too.