"Culture of death" health workers, responsible parenthood

31 May 2005

Christian V. Esguerra
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Dear Mr. Esguerra,

I am deeply saddened by the stories you recounted in your article ("Dark stories born in delivery rooms", Philippine Daily Inquirer, May 30, 2005, page A1). The health workers were definitely out of line humiliating the pregnant women. Perhaps, they were thinking that these women are so irresponsible getting pregnant when they are so poor and penniless they cannot afford to take care of their offsprings.

Does irreponsibility or ignorance of persons erases their dignity? Is it a valid reason to treat them without respect?

Assuming that these stories are true, they point to two things: 1) a certain flaw in the medical education of these health workers; and 2) a deep need to educate the poor in reponsible parenthood.

The actuations of the health workers are manifestations of how they were taught in some medical schools. They are trained to consider population issues in purely biological terms. The ethical aspect is treated lightly or not all, The issue of human life and its dignity (an ethical topic) are not tackled in their training.

These stories also indicate that many of us, especially among the poor, are ignorant about the duties and responsibilities of fatherhood and motherhood. In the article there is no mention of husbands coming to the defense of their pregnant wives. Where are their husbands? There is really a need to the educate the people in responsible parenthood. But this does not mean that we have to campaign for artificial contraception. Responsible parenthood must be understood in the way Pope Paul VI wish it to the understood. Perhaps, it is good to remind ourselves again of Pope Paul VI's words in Humanae Vitae:

"Hence conjugal love requires in husband and wife an awareness of their mission of "responsible parenthood," which today is rightly much insisted upon, and which also must be exactly understood. Consequently it is to be considered under different aspects which are legitimate and connected with one another.
"In relation to the biological processes, responsible parenthood means the knowledge and respect of their functions; human intellect discovers in the power of giving life biological laws which are part of the human person.
"In relation to the tendencies of instinct or passion, responsible parenthood means that necessary dominion which reason and will must exercise over them.
"In relation to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised, either by the deliberate and generous decision to raise a numerous family, or by the decision, made for grave motives and with due respect for the moral law, to avoid for the time being, or even for an indeterminate period, a new birth.
"Responsible parenthood also and above all implies a more profound relationship to the objective moral order established by God, of which a right conscience is the faithful interpreter. The responsible exercise of parenthood implies, therefore, that husband and wife recognize fully their own duties towards God, towards themselves, towards the family and towards society, in a correct hierarchy of values.
"In the task of transmitting life, therefore, they are not free to proceed completely at will, as if they could determine in a wholly autonomous way the honest path to follow; but they must conform their activity to the creative intention of God, expressed in the very nature of marriage and of its acts, and manifested by the constant teaching of the Church." (HV #10)

Responsible parenthood is not synonymous to contraception. Responsible parenthood is ...
1) upholding the value of Marriage as an institution;
2) looking at sex as a way to express a free, total, faithful, and fruitful love; and
3) understanding that parenthood involves both the father and the mother.

I hope that your article will generate responses from the government and civil society that will address the two (2) points I mentioned.