Well
d'oh! Ya thunk? Who knew, eh?
I
thought I'd copy in verbatim the following from Population Matters'
Facebook feed. I couldn't say it better myself! This whole thing
really sticks in my craw.
The
new Pope already has a lot to answer for in supporting the prolonged
agony of these poor people. They need birth control and the Catholic
Church is complicit in denying it to them, ensuring the Philippines
will remain in a regressive state of disrepair for the foreseeable
future, for far too many of its citizens. Here goes:
Comments
on this:
- The Pope has expressed (very welcome) concern for the environment and biodiversity. Population growth in the Philippines is a key driver of environmental degradation and species loss. So the ideas of forbidding birth control whilst urging people to act to protect the environment are in conflict.
- The argument that allowing individuals to control their fertility amounts to State interference with private matters is incredible and intellectually dishonest. Preventing people from using birth control they desperately want is the actual interference.
- Finally: it is interesting, and refreshing, to see open acknowledgement that high fertility plays a part in keeping families trapped in poverty. The interaction of poverty and fertility is complex and causality almost certainly flows both ways. The mirror idea, that poverty creates high fertility, is the culturally predominant reading of the relationship between the two factors and has led to the suggestion that the best way to control fertility is to make everyone wealth (as proposed by the well-intentioned Hans Rosling and also by noted troll Bjorn Lomborg). Unfortunately there simply aren't enough resources to make over 7bn people wealthy (in any meaningful material measure of wealth). It is illogical and possibly immoral to hold population policy hostage to development goals which may be ultimately unattainable, at least in part, due to population growth.
From the news article:
"He said he believed that Pope Francis, who was officially inaugurated on Tuesday, would be happy to hear of the delay.
Despite widespread support for the new measures in the Philippines, the Catholic Church lobbied against the legislation, saying it would undermine marriage and morality. More than 80% of the Philippines' 96 million citizens are Catholic.
One of the petitions submitted to the court against the law argues that "the State cannot, as a general principle, routinely invade the privacy of married couples in the exercise of their most intimate rights and duties to their respective spouses," according to PNA.
But supporters of the legislation, like Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, say it is necessary to help people in the Philippines "escape the vicious cycle of poverty by giving them options on how to manage their sexual lives, plan their families and control their procreative activities." "
- The Pope has expressed (very welcome) concern for the environment and biodiversity. Population growth in the Philippines is a key driver of environmental degradation and species loss. So the ideas of forbidding birth control whilst urging people to act to protect the environment are in conflict.
- The argument that allowing individuals to control their fertility amounts to State interference with private matters is incredible and intellectually dishonest. Preventing people from using birth control they desperately want is the actual interference.
- Finally: it is interesting, and refreshing, to see open acknowledgement that high fertility plays a part in keeping families trapped in poverty. The interaction of poverty and fertility is complex and causality almost certainly flows both ways. The mirror idea, that poverty creates high fertility, is the culturally predominant reading of the relationship between the two factors and has led to the suggestion that the best way to control fertility is to make everyone wealth (as proposed by the well-intentioned Hans Rosling and also by noted troll Bjorn Lomborg). Unfortunately there simply aren't enough resources to make over 7bn people wealthy (in any meaningful material measure of wealth). It is illogical and possibly immoral to hold population policy hostage to development goals which may be ultimately unattainable, at least in part, due to population growth.
From the news article:
"He said he believed that Pope Francis, who was officially inaugurated on Tuesday, would be happy to hear of the delay.
Despite widespread support for the new measures in the Philippines, the Catholic Church lobbied against the legislation, saying it would undermine marriage and morality. More than 80% of the Philippines' 96 million citizens are Catholic.
One of the petitions submitted to the court against the law argues that "the State cannot, as a general principle, routinely invade the privacy of married couples in the exercise of their most intimate rights and duties to their respective spouses," according to PNA.
But supporters of the legislation, like Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, say it is necessary to help people in the Philippines "escape the vicious cycle of poverty by giving them options on how to manage their sexual lives, plan their families and control their procreative activities." "
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