No Condom for HIV infected couple

Say what? No Condom for HIV infected couples? Shocking to say the least when Inquirer puts out a story with this screaming title, “Condoms a no-no even for couples with HIV, says CBCP exec.” I can only hope that something was lost in the translation along the way in this very alarming and damaging news report.

The connotation is alarming and however one looks at it, it seems to imply that the Bishops are for Russian roulette when couples even those infected with HIV are not allowed to use protection. If that is the case, why not just give them a gun and let them shoot themselves in the head. Maybe the writer must have an agenda if we go by the statement of Fr. Melvin Castro, the executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life. As hard as I try to deny the implications of what was stated I just could not make sense of it all.

Heck, since there are no definite guidelines coming from Rome on condoms don’t they think that they need to come up with one pronto? Unless they want those with HIV to procreate and take the risk of having a baby with HIV infection then let them grapple with their conscience.

It seems it all started with Fr. Edwin Corros, executive secretary of the CBCP-Episcopal Commission for Pastoral Care for Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI), saying that condom use should be "the last resort." It is a statement that was probably not sanctioned by CBCP but at least makes sense and recognizes the use of protection as against their official suicidal stand of total repudiation of condoms.

Meanwhile the war on terror errrr condoms has been unleashed in Inquisition fervor with an army of 50 priests given the marching orders by the Bishops to talk out liemakers errr lawmakers from passing a bill that would provide widespread access to artificial contraceptives. I guess they have not heard of separation of church and state, but then again that is their prerogative, here’s an interesting quote:

Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, CBCP president, said the Church would not budge from its position against contraceptives.

“The Catholic Church will remain steadfast against any measures that endanger life. Life is a gift from God that should be treasured,” Lagdameo said in an interview with the Church-run Radio Veritas Thursday.

Well, I don’t know how preventing the sperm and egg to do the tango inside a woman endangers life, but not preventing it from doing the cha cha just like Gloria Arroyo’s spin especially when the couples are HIV infected is surely a suicidal death wish. That is basically like a stunt of death defying indulgence of worldly pleasure if they are aware they have HIV but if one partner was away for sometime like the OFWs using a robber errr rubber is not a bad idea.

The heat is on, no I am not referring to those on heat but the debate rages on between the “pro-life” against what the Talibani skirt wearing church leaders refers to as the “anti-life” a derogatory term they use against pro-choice and those legislators that finally came to their senses a little bit too late. Too late because they have squandered the aid no not the HIV disease but the one given by the U.S. AID, so if ever the bill is passed on access to artificial birth control hopefully the government has the funds to effectively enforce the program.

The bill does not even include legalized abortion and the Talibani Bishops are on a warpath against the 50 legislators in favor of the bill with Ozamiz Archbishop Jesus Dosado who wants to deny said politicians who approve of abortion communion because they were committing a grave sin.

Heck have they even checked the statistics on the number of abortions in the Philippines? It is an alarming number and the number of deaths caused by unsanitary underground clinics is alarming with the poor resorting to quack hilots (native healer) or self-induced abortion is just sad and insane. It’s a conspiracy of silence according to the Inquirer article and the poor as always end up the loser in this war on condoms, to quote:

Urban poor women reported graphically in 2003 that if they had P1,000, they could seek out an abortionist in Pasay City, who might have a minimally sanitary clinic and some kind of medical training. If a woman had only P500, she could go to a “hilot” [native healer-midwife], who would give her a herbal drink “to regulate her menstruation” and massage her abdomen until blood (and the fetus) is expelled. A woman who had no money might jump off a high wall or run up several flights of stairs. Failing that, she might insert a hanger or barbecue stick into her birth canal.

Of the 473,400 Filipino women per year estimated in 2000 to have undergone an abortion (about equally divided between induced and spontaneous), statistics from 1,658 hospitals revealed that 105,000 women wound up in hospital beds from complications, mainly hemorrhaging and infections. An estimated 12 percent, or 12,600, died. How many more never made it to a hospital but met the same fate, or continue to suffer lifelong disabilities, is anyone’s guess. Research on the subject is taboo in official Catholic circles and viciously attacked by militant “pro-life” groups. The conspiracy of silence triumphs again.

I just don’t know about these Philippine “pro-Life” activists and the Talibani Bishops, the condition of the developing countries and the third world is totally different with the poor nations having fatal end results. It is not the same, denying these women especially the poor are like slow death but just the same kills. There is no argument that the size of the family among wealthier couples are reduced compared to poor people but until the Philippines has any doable solution to stop the widening gap between the rich and the poor pronto you will have more baby factories. They can argue as much as they want that the world can accommodate all the babies of the baby factories but the reality is we have a food shortage and until they have a doable solution now to this worldwide crises access to birth control is the most pragmatic approach. These people need to read Imposing Misery, The Impact of Manila’s Ban on Contraception, A LIKHAAN, Inc. (Linangan ng Kababaihan) study and maybe they will get a sense on reality.

Related articles:

• Abstinence, Baby Factories & Pro-Life Talibans
• The Philippines Birth Control Battle
• Chastity belts Anyone?
• Philippine Rice Shortage Artificial or Real?

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