Noynoy not budging 10/03/2010

AQUINO: STAND NOT CHANGED; CHURCH: EMULATE YOUR MOTHER

Noynoy not budging

10/03/2010
As the debates heat up on the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill that is threatening to split President Aquino and the Catholic Church, Aquino said yesterday he is standing firm on his position to provide Filipino couples “informed choices” in family planning.

“The State has an obligation to educate all of its citizens as to their choices. The State is not empowered by any law to dictate upon any couple as to how they should plan their family,” Aquino said at the sidelines of the nationwide distribution of Philhealth cards to indigent families held yesterday morning at the President Corazon C. Aquino High School in Baseco Compound, Port Area.

Aquino, nevertheless, said he had not seen the RH bill pending in the House of Representatives but added that “my stand has not changed.”

After a pro-RH bill rally last Friday in which condoms were distributed to pedestrians and to protest the detention of famed tourist guide Carlos Celdran and the Catholic Church’s stand against artificial contraception, hundreds of Church-backed pro-life rallyists trooped to Quiapo Church yesterday. The rally included a Catholic archbishop who urged the government to rethink its position on contraception. The rally included students and parents. Many waved graphic signs with pictures of aborted fetuses..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101003hed1.html