Adolescent pregnancy prevention bill will ‘hyper-sexualize children,’ violate religious freedom–solons
Manila Rep Bienvenido Abante Jr. has maintained that House Bill (HB) No. 8910, or the proposed “Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Act,” should not have been passed by the lower chamber, as it could impinge on the rights of Christian-based educational institutions.
On September 5, 2023, 232 House members unanimously passed the draft measure in plenary session.
In a statement, Abante, who chairs the House committee on human rights, said:
“I am concerned that this bill could violate the religious freedom of faith-based educational institutions, such as Baptist schools and Catholic schools. These schools have their own moral and doctrinal teachings regarding human sexuality and reproductive health, and forcing them to introduce sex education and reproductive health programs that contradict their deeply held beliefs would be an infringement on their rights,” said the lawmaker.
“We must also ask: What kind of values do we want to teach our children? Why must we be compelled to apply international standards, standards that may not be consistent with traditional Filipino family values? There are better ways to tackle teenage pregnancy without forcing institutions to go against their faith-based principles,” the senior lawmaker added.
Abante stressed that any law related to teenage pregnancy “must respect the family as the primary institution of moral guidance, and it should ensure that faith-based communities are not coerced into complying with teachings that are in conflict their beliefs.”
Cagayan de Oro Rep Rufus Rodriguez filed on Monday House Resolution No. 2174, which urges the House of Representatives to “recommit” HB 8910 to the concerned House committees which would conduct further hearings to “ensure that only the appropriate subject matter on preventing adolescent pregnancies (are) included in the House bill.”
Read: Present anti-teen pregnancy bill ‘headed for graveyard’ – solon
Institutionalizing ‘CASE’
He explained that HB 8910 violated the 1987 Constitution, which states that “Every bill passed by Congress shall embrace only one subject matter which shall be expressed in the title thereof.”
Rodriguez claimed that the draft measure was “unconstitutional,” pointing out that “many provisions of the bill aim to institutionalize Comprehensive Adolescent Sexuality Education (CASE), which is a different and separate subject matter from adolescent pregnancy.”
The lawmaker further said that HB 8910 was “very deceptive considering that a reading of the title of the bill will show that it deals with the prevention of adolescent pregnancies and protection of adolescent parents, (when) the bill in fact is mainly on institutionalizing CASE.”
Rodriguez cited concerns raised by the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches and Public Policy Review Commission chairperson, former Supreme Court chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, of CASE being an international program that would “hyper-sexualize children at a very early age.”
“It has been alleged that CASE will result in undermining parental authority, early sexualization, promoting risky behaviors, contradicting constitutional values, failing to establish abstinence, introducing age-inappropriate content, and promotion of homosexuality/bisexuality,” he said.
