By Ruben C Mendoza
Pro-Life Philippines recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. During their Sep 27 celebration, they reaffirmed their commitment to protecting human life from conception until natural death and to contributing to the task of building a culture of life.
They also asserted the centrality of the family as it is traditionally understood. They were alarmed by shifting definitions of family, and lamented what they consider as its threats, namely, abortion, same-sex marriage, and divorce.
It appears from their website that the current programs of Pro-Life Philippines are focused mainly on the issue of abortion. Perhaps this is not surprising given the Catholic Church’s teaching on abortion and its advocacy in the public sphere about it.
The fact that there were 1.26 million induced abortions in 2020, according to the Philippine Safe Abortion Advocacy Network, adds to the urgency of their mission.
It is crucial to note that abortion is illegal in the Philippines and the country’s Constitution mandates that the State “shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception” (Art. II, Sec. 12).
Instead of putting an end to abortion, however, women who want an abortion done go to underground clinics or buy abortifacients whenever or wherever they can get their hands on them.
Sadly, this leads to complications and, at times, to deaths. Moreover, women who undergo abortion are stigmatized, even by medical professionals. In the mindset of many, no situation will justify an abortion, including rape or incest.
While the issue of abortion must be addressed holistically, other life issues are equally, if not more, important.
Just as one must be concerned with the beginning of life, one must also be concerned, attentive, and responsive to other life issues. It will be a reductionist approach to understand life only in terms of abortion and/or euthanasia. Many pro-life individuals and groups appear to forget life issues after birth and before death.
We need to seriously consider the response of the Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister in an interview, “I do not believe that just because you are opposed to abortion, that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, a child educated, a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”
At the height of the debate about the Reproductive Health Bill in the Philippine Congress in 2012, many pro-life church groups and their pastors were vociferous in their opposition to its passage. They lobbied their representatives in Congress to reject the bill. Rallies were even organized against it.
Compare that to the church people’s reaction to, say, the crisis of education among young children, an issue that was recently highlighted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
If the reaction to the CBCP’s pastoral letter, “Responding to the Crisis in Nutrition and Early Childhood Development,” released on Aug 1, is any indication, church groups seem indifferent to one of the most pressing moral crises facing the nation.
The pastoral letter cites the stark numbers: the Philippines has one of the highest rates of stunting among children under five in the world – 26.7%, far above the global average of 22.3% – and little progress has been made since 2000. This is not just a statistic; it is a moral indictment.
Are we truly “pro-life,” or merely “pro-birth,” if we turn a blind eye to the fact that millions of Filipino children are malnourished and denied the nutrition and education they need to thrive?
Stunting, rooted in undernutrition during pregnancy, poor access to nutritious food in the first 1,000 days of life, and chronic childhood illnesses, cripples cognitive development and undermines the learning potential of an entire generation.
Child stunting is not just a health issue – it is an economic, social, and moral emergency. One commentator describes our education system as “floundering,” a statement that barely scratches the surface of the cascading impact this crisis will have on society.
The late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin championed a “consistent ethic of life” — one that protects life from womb to tomb and confronts the realities of poverty, inadequate education, insufficient healthcare, and social injustice. True pro-life commitment demands attention to the living conditions that shape a child’s future.
Such an ethic encompasses all of life and emphasizes the need to be concerned not only with sexual and bioethical issues but also with social issues. If we think about it, the vast majority of us are not at the beginning or end of our lives but are in between.
Considering the Philippine context, a truly pro-life individual or group will seek to uphold and promote the rights of children. As the CBCP states, they are “God’s heritage,” and “the future of our nation,” and “More than infrastructure or arms, we must prioritize our youth and their education.”
For starters, pro-life groups may want to consider the practical suggestions of the CBCP in responding to the issue. The Filipino bishops rightly emphasize the church’s mission for children. “They deserve a brighter future — and only through our immediate commitment and actions can this be realized.”
Jeremiah 29:11 states: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Let us give our children the hope and the future they truly deserve.
There is much to fix in Philippine society. Starting with the issue of child undernourishment would be a good beginning. Let us be truly pro-life as we communally attend to their needs. Hopefully, in doing so, we will develop among ourselves not only a truly consistent ethic of life but also a culture of life in our communities. – UCA News
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
