Posts in Xavier School
“Anti-life” by Elica Saenz

The Philippines has been known to be a conservative country because of its deeply rooted religious beliefs that are manifested in its moral values. Despite the separation of church and state, there is no denying that the Catholic Church wields great influence over Philippine politics and society in general. In line with this, it took years for the civil society organizations to have the “Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act” or reproductive health (RH) law to finally be enacted in December 2012 (Melgar et al., 2018) due to church oppositions claiming that the bill is “anti-life” (Robles,2012). Despite the implementation, there are concerns that the government's curriculums remain to emphasize "Filipino Values" on account of the religious pressure when it comes to sexual and health issues rather than fostering comprehensive insight for youths to make educated reproductive decisions (Joven, 2021). Because of these reasons, women and girls in the Philippines, continue to face the biggest challenge of the effects of the fundamentalist belief of the Catholic church on their Reproductive Health Law.

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