Manila, Philippines, Nov 21, 2008 / 04:34 am
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is assisting an effort to craft an alternative version of the country’s controversial proposed Reproductive Health bill, saying their preferred version will “promote authentic human development.”
One feature of the bill is its non-promotion of contraceptives in family planning, CBCP Episcopal Commission on Family and Life executive Secretary Father Melvin Castro told CBCP News.
“Instead of the RH bill we are instead proposing another bill that would really address the poverty of our people and promote authentic human development,” he said, emphasizing that the Church is only providing input to help “pro-family legislators” draft the bill and make it more “morally acceptable.”
“It should not be labeled as a Catholic Church bill,” Father Castro remarked.