Popcom Reveals Pros and Cons of RH Law

There are advantages and disadvantages of the Reproductive Health (RH) law which is going to be implemented effective next year. This according to a Population Commission (PopCom) officer on Thursday.

Popcom information officer III Sheryl May Ygay said the RH law is a law which is against irresponsible parents who produced children without preparing an earlier plans about their good future.

But on the other hand, Ygay said the law also favors parents who made plans even before their marriage, especially those who based their number of children on their monthly income.

Ygay said parents who have good plans for their children are usually found in developed countries, who are fully educated both at home and in school.

Here in the Philippines, RH law is beneficial to both irresponsible and responsible parents due to its unlimited services even to child-bearing mothers, post child-birth mothers and to every newly born child, she said.

These services include free medical check-up, free vitamins and other services which are available always at the barangay health centers.

However, RH law also provides services to parents who are planning to limit the number of children they ought to take care, based on their available monthly earnings.

These kind of parents are usually the target of RH law, wherein the government provides a ‘limitless’ number of health paraphernalia which are available at the barangay health centers.

These service can also be availed by couples who want to apply a birth gapping or a total halting of child bearing.

But every male or female who wants to avail the services of barangay health workers must submit themselves to a proper physical check-up before applying the best applicable birth control gadgets, Ygay said.

Ygay added the barangay health workers are not allowed to provide birth control paraphernalia such as pills and ligation to females unless they have undergone a thorough physical examination.

Ygay said this is to avoid a medical disorder on the part of the applicants.

She aslo said that even the males or husbands who ought to apply for vasectomy have to undergo a physical medical observation whether this kind of birth control method is applicable to the over-all condition of his health.

Female ligation and male vasectomy are very effective birth control methods, she said.

“it’s better that things like these must be possibly known by the youths in school,” Ygay said.

Family planning methods are to be taught even as the child is still in the elementary level, and also to be duplicated when he or she is in high school, Ygay added.

“Well there is a possibility that child bearing youths are lessen because they are already knowledgeable what are the disadvantages of illegal and unplanned sex, compared to a planned marriage where a legal sexual intercourse is permitted,” Ygay said.

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