A village in Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa City ratified an ordinance penalizing any person who advertises, promotes, sells or distributes for free any kind of abortifacient.
Condom purchases are illegal without a doctor’s prescription. Village officials claim that abortifacients according to the ordinance including condoms, IUD’s and birth control pills “undermine the solidarity of families by promoting premarital sex, giving rise to more fatherless children, more single mothers, more poverty, and more abortions when the contraceptives fail to prevent conception, and by causing a decline of legitimate marriages.” In addition to this, health advocates in general are also prohibited in providing sex education to students without parental consent.
People who violate the village’s ordinance provisions will be fined as much as P5,000 for the first offense and more for subsequent offenses. Recurrent violators will be also imprisoned for not less than a month but not more than six months and will also be held civilly liable to the offended party.
Barangay Ayala Alabang spokesperson Atty. Luis Sison cited Pharmacy Practice Regulation Act or Republic Act 5921 of 1969, which says that "no drug or chemical product or device capable of provoking abortion or preventing conception... shall be delivered or sold to any person without a proper prescription by a duly licensed physician."
Atty. Sison also said that the barangay council passed the ordinance because they wanted to be proactive in their pro-life stance. Saying that the "St. James the Great Parish was the one who became very active in fighting the passing into law of the RH (Reproductive Health) bill, and this movement in the parish gained momentum."
The barangay officials claim that they are setting a “good example” for other barangays to follow when what they just did is a classic example of abuse of authority by victimizing the people’s liberty in line with their religious interests.
These people are seriously missing the point of condom use which is to prevent unwanted pregnancy which in the end reduces the frequency illegal abortions. It is a basic principle of liberty that no one should be forcibly prevented from acting in any way he chooses provided his acts are not invasive of the free acts of others. And this ordinance violates both our constitutional and human rights concerning liberty and it is depressing that the legislature system is once again encumbered and corrupted by collectivism and secular morality.
The barangay officials claim that they are setting a “good example” for other barangays to follow when what they just did is a classic example of abuse of authority by victimizing the people’s liberty in line with their religious interests.
These people are seriously missing the point of condom use which is to prevent unwanted pregnancy which in the end reduces the frequency illegal abortions. It is a basic principle of liberty that no one should be forcibly prevented from acting in any way he chooses provided his acts are not invasive of the free acts of others. And this ordinance violates both our constitutional and human rights concerning liberty and it is depressing that the legislature system is once again encumbered and corrupted by collectivism and secular morality.