On Reproductive Rights

90% of Filipinas who have abortions are Catholics.

If, for some strange and unfortunate and COSMIC reason, I was a member of the CBCP, that fact right there would feel like a solid slap on my face.

At the very least, it would make me sit down and THINK. HARD. What is it I am doing wrong?

If I cared at all.

This study done by the Guttmacher Institute and the University of the Philippines Population Institute has been around since 2010 --- and there is no indication that the Catholic Church has asked this question nor thought long and hard about that 90%.

So I guess what this means is they don't really give a shit no?

The root cause of these abortions are unintended pregnancies. And these unintended pregnancies happened because of lack of access to birth control.

The Catholic hierarchy has thrown everything AND the sink at the full implementation of this law that has the potential to make millions of lives better. So poor Filipinas who cannot pay for their birth control get pregnant without meaning and wanting to.

For those with access to birth control but didn't avail of it, they didn't because of fears that were planted and propagated by the Catholic hierarchy.

For instance, in Samar, it wasn't unusual for my women patients with 7/10/12/15 kids to tell me that their parish priest thundered at the pulpit about the evils of contraception and claimed that pills would weaken their bodies (conveniently ignoring the great havoc that multiple pregnancies can wreak on their bodies), and that condoms could get lost inside their bodies and rot. A patent lie.

And of course, on top of that, the old standby threat of eternal damnation.

(How else to control these meek unthinking lambs but with fear, yes? Works like a charm, believe me.)

And so they churned one baby out after another. Or stuck a hanger inside themselves to perform an abortion on themselves and then either die from an infection or a hemorrhage.

Does the Catholic Church care that the Philippines has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world? That 11 Filipinas die from pregnancy related causes every single day?

Is the Pope Catholic? Is Big Bird yellow? Is Leni a phoney baloney?

Of course we all know the answers to these questions.

The Catholic hierarchy cares NOTHING for women who end up pregnant and do not want these pregnancies. They care nothing for women who desperately seek back alley abortions or perform abortions on themselves.

90% or whom are Catholics.

People of their flock who trust them.

And who they lie to.

That's their brand of pro-life.

Women are nothing but baby machines. Expendable.

They would rather these women deny their sexuality, make pretensions to virtue, get knocked up unintentionally then in the privacy of their bedrooms, desperately stick sharp pointy rusty objects inside themselves and die slow painful deaths from raging, painful infections or from massive bleeding --- rather than make reproductive health options available to Filipinas.

I have fought this fight for a very long time now, enlisting friends so we could bring condoms and pills to the poor. Teaching family planning in the slums. Our humble and paltry offering.

Something we did with absolutely no help from the government because government was of no help.

Every tiny victory was hard fought because the Roman Catholic Church had the government by its balls. And in the countryside where poverty was widespread, the effects of this political expediency was acutely felt via severe poverty.

And so to have a President declare war on this church has me on my feet, cheering. Finally, a President has pushed back at the abusive, arrogant institution. And this President is serious about getting the show on the road: the full implementation of the RH Law.

Finally. FINALLY.

And I see now that VP Leni Robredo has allowed herself to be enlisted in the dangerous game of politics played by these men of the CBCP in their funny clothes and red beanie hats. And cocktail rings.

Once again obstructing our country's path to self-determination.

I know what to do. As I said, I have fought this battle for quite a while now. There will be no second guessing myself where this battle for Reproductive Rights is concerned.

I got my game face on, Leni.

And I am watching you and your Church.