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Gabriela to CBCP: Do not bear false witness against women’s health

Monday, February 27, 2012

Gabriela to CBCP: Do not bear false witness against women’s health


We continue to say, ‘yes’ to a comprehensive and pro-poor reproductive health bill and ‘no’ to population control.” – GWP Rep. Emmi de Jesus
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has charged the Gabriela Women’s Party of allegedly admitting that that the Reproductive Health (RH) bill pending in both chambers of Congress, is “ neither pro-poor nor pro-women.”

In a report posted on the official CBCP website last February 20, the CBCP said that Gabriela has made the admission in a note on its own Facebook page. It referred to a note made by Gabriela declaring that “the RH bill cannot be genuinely pro-poor and pro-women for as long as it espouses population control, which blames poverty on women’s bodies, fertility and population.”

The somewhat misleading news story has prompted Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus to call on the CBCP to “stop bearing false witness against women’s health.”

“GWP believes that House Bill 4244, popularly known as the RH Bill, has made positive strides for women. Gabriela Women’s Party has successfully included in the consolidated bill substantive provisions from its own bill, HB 3387. Among these are reproductive health care programs and services throughout one’s life cycle, services to address breast and reproductive tract cancers, and protection against chemicals injurious to working women,” De Jesus said.

According to de Jesus, her group also lobbies for prenatal leaves for women workers and pro-bono services especially for low-income and indigent pregnant women, as stated in the RH bill.

“On top of this, population or demographic targets were thrown out of the bill, and desired family size was made neither mandatory nor compulsory,” she said. “We need to remind CBCP not to distort the truth in its campaign against the RH bill. While it is true that GWP has consistently opposed the population control agenda, it does not mean that the GWP stands beside the Catholic Church hierarchy in blocking the passage of a legislation that calls for the promotion of women’s right to health.”.... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/02/22/gabriela-to-cbcp-do-not-bear-false-witness-against-women%E2%80%99s-health/

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