Estrada 1 Anne Gabrielle A.

Estrada Professor Dominic Dalisay SOCI 1013 25 August 2011 Reproductive Health Bill: A Sociological Perspective

A well-established family is indeed tough to be found these days. This is due to the fact that most of the youths are already engaging in pre-marital sex, in which most of the Filipinos have already been cognizant of. Moreover, theres a lot more extensive issue to resolve which doesnt merely discuss the amplifying cases of teenage pregnancy. This is the hasty upsurge in the population here in the Philippines which makes the predicament of the Philippines in remaining in dire poverty more complicated. Thus, the government has come up with the Reproductive Health Bill, otherwise known as RH Bill. Its primary intent is to disseminate information and approaches regarding birth control and maternal and child care. Indeed, there is already a settlement concerning its proviso on maternal and child care, however, this issue has been an incessant dispute in the whole nation state. With the conflict and the consensus involved in this communal subject, my target is to present and make a distinction of the interior matter in this subject through the utilization of the distinctive principles and theory of Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim.

In the Philippines, according to the 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study by the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) and the Demographic Research and Development Foundation, 26 percent of our Filipino youth nationwide from ages 15 to 25

Estrada 2 admitted having a premarital sex experience. Whats worse is that 38 % of our youth are already in a live-in arrangement. The 1998 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) revealed that 3.6 million of our teenagers (5.2 % of our population) got pregnant. In 92 percent of these teens, the pregnancy was unplanned, and the majority, 78 percent, did not even use contraceptives the first time they had sex. Many of the youth are clueless that even on a single intercourse, they could wind up pregnant (Singson). Moreover, a source stated, Every year, 13 out of 100 girls aged between 15 and 19 of the Filipino population get pregnant. Statistics also showed that an estimated 1.8 million adolescent males and nearly 700,000 females were sexually active in 2000. Reportedly, only a small proportion of married youth of each sex (14% among males and 30% among females) reported no sexual experience before marriage. Adolescent norms are changing and influencing youth behaviour, including risk-takingmore are moving out of their homes to urban areas, having non-familial household arrangements, or going through a younging in their dating experiences (e.g., going steady, first date). Lastly 16.5 million of the Philippine population belong to the 15-24 age group. Statistics show that the 30% who give birth are from this age group. By the age of 20, already 25% are mothers (Teenage Pregnancy).

The reasons I have gathered are the following: psychological factors, adolescent sexual behaviour, lack of discipline and control, socio-economic factors and sexual abuse. Furthermore, another factor of teen pregnancy is the lack of proper communication with their parents and lack of education from the school regarding sex and pregnancy (What are the causes of Teen Pregnancy?). Why is this so? This is due to the fact that parents at home and teachers in school feel equally deficient and out of depth to help teens or children to discern the concept of sex and pregnancy.

Estrada 3 Another issue that our country has been coping is the overpopulation which has been a major factor of the poverty in the Philippines. According to the statistics, the population of the Philippines has an estimate of 101,833,938 as of July 2011. (Philippines Demographics Profile 2011). This has something to do with the Global Competitiveness Index which measures the set of institutions, policies, and factors that set the sustainable current and medium-term levels of economic prosperity, depending on how productively a country uses available resources. Based on Statistics, the Philippines is 71st in the Global Competitiveness in Asia (Global Competitiveness Index Rankings).

The influence of the religions is probably significant for this amplification of the Philippines population. Most people in the Philippines are Catholic (80.9%) (Philippines Demographics Profile 2011). Family planning is necessary but for the moment, the leaders of the Catholic church are opposing such notion for they coined it as abortificent. The highest growth rates however, are in the southern part of Mindanao (the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) where the dominant religion is the Islam (5%). Besides, the firm stand and struggle of the church against this bill has its contention reasonable enough to resist the governments stance. In contrast, the government also has the rational vantage point to go against the church.

First, in the pro-RH Bill, the following points were considered: prevention of maternal deaths; free medical treatment from the barangay with professional health practitioner; prevention of abortion; empowerment of women and promotion of breastfeeding; right to choose between natural and modern method of family planning; access to age appropriate sex education in schools; provides quality of life; availability of contraception in the barangay; population management and long term benefits. Contrariwise the stance and reasons of the anti-RH Bill

Estrada 4 include legalized abortion, immoral, abortifacient, corruption, promotion of promiscuity, increase of HIV/AIDS in the country, prevention of having a baby which contradicts the teaching of the church Humayo kayo at magpakarami and the perspective of population is not the cause of poverty but it is corruption (10 Reasons of Pro-RH Bill and Anti-RH Bill).

People have their different notions regarding this bill. It encompasses not only the clash between the church and the government, but also includes the clash between the parents against the stated bill, and the clash between the church and the parents, who are obviously pro-RH bill. Indeed, the perceptions of the people are distinctive from each other, thus, this would form a conflict. How do we correlate these sociological views involved in RH Bill with the disparate views of Durkheim and Marx?

As we all know from the theory of the renowned French sociologist, Emile Durkheim(1858-1917), Functionalism, he presented that it focuses on the individual, usually with the intent to show how individual behaviour is shaped by broader social forces, in effect, treating individuals either as puppets, whose decisions are a predictable result of their location in the social structure and of the norms and expectations they have internalized, or sometimes as virtual prisoners of the explicit social control techniques society imposes (McClelland).

To expound the relation of this with the subject being presented, RH Bill has been influencing an individuals perspective regarding the issues of sex, morality and religion. The views of people are being partitioned instigating them to change their behaviour which is related to the said subject. Statistics could be utilized in this principle. If a drastic change in the demography of birth rate in teenagers in the Philippines occurs, for instance, it decreased significantly, it could be formulated that the most of the Filipino teenagers have been aware of

Estrada 5 such bill, causing them to positively react with the issue. Through this, we could say that an individual is being impelled by the norms and the collective consciousness being set by the society. Now, we could also see that the social fact here is the viewpoint against or alongside the RH Bill which is formed through a matter of collective conscience. Furthermore, we could perceive that social fact is a prerequisite in order to acquire proper analysis in such issues. Perhaps, if we would have a debate with a certain individual regarding the RH Bill, we couldnt exactly say that if he/she is against it, it would trigger an instantaneous upsurge in the population here in the Philippines. In order to attain apt results, it is a must to try to take some survey apropos the subject to a group of individuals. From the statistics I have found which is stated in the 5th paragraph, we could relatively comprehend that the Catholic Church is shaping the society for most of the Filipinos are Catholic. In connection with the figures telling that the people in Mindanao are the ones with highest population growth rates, concerning that they are Muslims of which comprises only of 5% of our population, we could analyze that they are depending on their culture and norms, as regards to having polygamy in terms of marriage. Thus, this causes a large impact in our society. Of course, since Muslims do not depend on the Catholic Church whether or not to implement the RH Bill, they still depend on their own customs and traditions. The Qur'an does not make any explicit statements about the morality of contraception, but contains statements encouraging procreation. Their prophet, Muhammad also is reported to have said "marry and procreate" (Yusuf).

In the statistics stated, I also noticed that adolescent males are more active in pre-marital sex than females. Now, in this case, we could see that females are feasibly affected by the moral principles in this society, making them contemplate of the negative upshots of pre-marital sex pregnancy, shame, frustration, early responsibility, etc. From these facts, we could ascertain that

Estrada 6 there is a huge need to reckon the concepts about pregnancy, maternity and sex. If this continuously arises, one could presume that the collective consciousness, pertaining to the RH bill implementation, is being disregarded by the society. What I have studied is that those were not teen pregnancy rates at all, but those were the different ways of thinking about the RH Bill. Therefore, the RH Bill is a social fact. Lately, President Benigno Aquino III endorsed the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill by including it in the administration's 13 additional priority measures during the second LegislativeExecutive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting Tuesday (Beltran). In this attempt he made, some were delighted, while some were dismayed. However, months ago, the CBCP (Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines) threatened him of having excommunication if he will actively support RH Bill because this would be a violation to Gods commandment. Why did he continue to support this bill despite of the excommunication that awaits him? Filipinos are continuously to clamour for the passage of the RH Bill into law. The 2008 national and Manila City surveys of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) both confirm that majority of Filipinos want the RH bill passed into law, 71% and 86%, respectively (Padilla). From this, we could apprehend that President Benigno Aquino III is an individual affected by the norms in this society. This is because a collective consciousness has been coercing him to push the RH bill. Stated that excommunication is a grave transgression, he wanted to implement this act because of the consensus of overpopulation and impoverishment in this society.

Hence, another conflict arises. And with this, I am about to discuss the correlation of the principles of Marx with this subject.

Estrada 7 From the views of Karl Heinrich Marx (1818-1883) in his Theory of Marxism, it encompasses Marxian economic theory, a sociological theory and a revolutionary view of social change that has influenced socialist political movements worldwide. The form of economic organizations, otherwise called as mode of production fabricates social relations, which in turn form the superstructure, of which the economic system forms the base. As the forces of production, most notably technology, improve, existing forms of social organization become inefficient and stifle further progress. (Marxism) Its already stated that theres a continuous debate between the church and the government whether to implement this bill or not. To carefully discern the relation of this to the theory of Marx, let us analyze the perspective of Marx. Marx stated that the society is moved by a conflict. RH Bill has been obviously causing societal disparity and conflict. Between the church and the government, the huge clash has been causing the peoples perspective as well. This conflict results into the separation and confusion of the people in our country in which perspective to take into account. President Aquino III has been facing a severe impasse. Its due to the fact that the church would excommunicate him because of the endorsement of the said bill. When the RH Bill is executed, this would trigger off a huge conflict between the church and not just the government, but the state, as well. The morality of the people would be destroyed because of this bill. If this issue continues to be unresolved, the entire society will be facing a dilemma of having a social discrepancy. It is also stated that the parents are responsible for their childrens actions, yet, why are still there remaining ones who contend this bill? This is due to the conflict which arouse from the

Estrada 8 church and the government. They had to take a stance from the two opposing sides. According to the principle of Marxism, the base and superstructure metaphor explains that the totality of social relations regarding the social production of their existence i.e. civil society forms a societys economic base, from which rises a superstructure of political and legal institutions i.e. political society. The base corresponds to the social consciousness (politics, religion, philosophy, etc.), and it conditions the superstructure and the social consciousness (Marxism). Now to link this up with the subject, the parents have been affected by the consensus of the church. In the aspects of religion and morality, it would yield a certain social consciousness to the individuals affected by such bill, encompassing the parents, teenagers, church and government.

Social revolutions are prompted by a conflict between the development of material productive forces and the relations of production, thus, the resultant changes to the economic base will lead to the alteration of the superstructure. This relationship is reflexive; the base determines the superstructure (Marxism). Relative to the subject, the collective consciousness of people with regard to the subject incites conflict on people and this result to a revolutionized structure within the society which comprises of the liberation, diminution of the population, decadence and defiance of church, which will set off the social incongruence.

To conclude, the RH Bill is a huge clash among the government, church, parents, youngsters and the entire individuals living in this state. This is because of the consensus (collective consciousness) of the individuals in this society which have a common attribute with the ideas of Durkheim. Statistics is a basis for the distinctive principles and ideas of the individuals in a society towards the RH Bill and this is utilized by Durkheim. Because of the

Estrada 9 collective consensus of the youngsters these days, the society is being shaped. This yields conflicts. Because of the unfolded situation and conflicts between the RH Bill and the living entities in this society, these produce a revolutionized society towards achieving development if properly implemented and conformed. However, this situation has a propensity to create a selfdestructive environment. For because of RH Bill, our minds are being gradually depraved, especially the youths, which in turn causes immorality, liberated means of thinking and acting and insolence of the Gods commandment. Thus, the conflicts mentioned would cause an entire and massive change in the whole society itself, which creates a new superstructure.

Estrada 10 Works Cited Singson, Rebecca. Teen Pregnancies in the Philippines. Inquirer network. The Inquirer Company. 14 Jun. 2008. Web. 20 Aug. 2008. <http://showbizandstyle .inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20080614-142572/Teen-pregnancies-in-thePhilippines>. Philippines Demographics Profile 2011. Index mundi. Web. 24 Aug. 2011. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/>. Global Competitiveness Index Rankings. Business in Asia. Web. 24 Aug. 2011. < http://www.business-in-asia.com/asia/asia_competitiveness.html>. Teenage Pregnancy. Philippines Today. Philippines Today, n.p. 14 Nov. 2008. Web. 21 Aug. 2011. <http://www.philippinestoday.net/index.php?module=article&view=1294>. What are the Causes of Teen Pregnancy? Speedy Remedies. Speedy Remedies, 1 Sept. 2010. Web. 21 Aug. 2011.< http://www.speedyremedies.com/what-are-the-causes-of-teenagepregnancy.html>. McClelland, Kent. Functionalism. Grinell (2000). Web. 21 Aug. 2011. <http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/soc/s00/soc111-01/IntroTheories/Functionalism.html>. Padilla, Clara Rita. Reasons Why We Need the RH Law. ABS-CBN Interactive. 16 Aug. 2010. Web. 21 Aug. 2010. <http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/insights/08/16/10/reasons-why-weneed-rh-law>.

Estrada 11 Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid. "Contraception: Permissible?," IslamOnline. 16 Jun. 2006. Web. 24 Aug. 2011. <http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English>. Beltran, Jill. Aquino Endorses RH Bill with Amendments. Sun Star Publishing. 17 Aug. 2011. Web. 21 Aug 2011. <http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/08/17/aquinoendorses-rh-bill-amendments-173541>. 10 Reasons of Pro-RH Bill and Anti-RH Bill. Blogwatch. 21 Aug 2011. <http://blogwatch.tv/2011/03/ten-reasons-of-rh-bill-and-anti-rh-bill-supporters/>. Marxism. Wikipedia. Web. 21 Aug 2011. <http://blogwatch.tv/2011/03/ten-reasons-of-rh-billand-anti-rh-bill-supporters/>.