.- A push to legalize abortion in the Philippines is “unacceptable” because the country “should be saving lives, not taking them,” a pro-life group is charging. Instead of abortion, the group is advocating better education and government services to help stop “unwanted pregnancies.”
The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) has advocated for legal abortions in the Philippines to stop the thousands of women who reportedly undergo “unsafe” abortions which are potentially fatal to the mothers.
According to CBCP News, the Pro-Life Philippines Foundation, Inc. (PPFI) has countered that induced abortion is “the deliberate termination of the life of an innocent human being and therefore, it is a crime.”
The organization also said that legal abortion is not necessary to help poor women in crisis pregnancies. It argued that if the government is serious about helping these women, it should provide counseling services for abortion-minded women and post-abortion mothers and fathers.
PPFI also advocated more education programs, maternal and child care services and economic and social development programs that would help stop “rape, incest, sex outside of marriage and other causes of unwanted pregnancies.”
Like the country’s Catholic hierarchy, the pro-life organization also lobbied Philippines lawmakers to drop legislation to legalize contraception.
“All men and women need to be educated on fetal development, the consequences of sex outside of marriage, on human sexuality, fertility and love, respect and relationships,” the group continued. “Pregnant women need support and help, not abortion. We should be saving lives, not taking them.”
