You’ve most probably heard about the now dwindling discussion about a proposed law that seeks to “guarantee universal access to medically-safe, legal and quality reproductive health care services and relevant information.” In short, it gives couples a choice on what birth control method to use. This, of course, is against the natural-birth control stance of the Catholic Church and we could see the faithful taking arms against the proposed law – the Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008 (full text of House Bill 5043 here).

There are a number of issues concerning the proposed law, but let’s focus on a particular issue closest to the subject matter of the Pinoy Entrepreneurs blog (we have previous discussions on why many Filipinos are poor, Grameen borrowers with increased income show a remarkable determination to have fewer children and whether business is the answer to poverty). The explanatory note of one of the substituted House Bills, House Bill No. 17, asserts: “Studies show that rapid population growth exacerbates poverty while poverty spawns rapid population growth.” The following data are presented to support the assertion:

• From 1985-2000, 57.3% of families having many children are poor but only 15.7% of families having two children are poor.
• Large family size is associated with negative determinant of school participation and poor health and survival rates among children.
• The prevalence of child labor rises, and school attendance falls, with the number of children in the family.
• Lower birth rates and slower population growth over the last three decades have contributed faster economic progress in a number of developing countries.
• Fertility declines accounted for 1/5th of the economic growth in East Asia between 1960 and 1995. (To read more, including the references, please refer to the Fact Sheet and Explanatory Note.)

Critics argue otherwise: “there’s no empirical data that shows that overpopulation causes poverty. Poverty is the result of confluence of factors, like bad governance, graft and corruption (benefits don’t go to the bulk of the populace, but to the pockets of grafters and corrupt public officials) and unmitigated migration from the provinces to urban areas.”

We may have divergent views on the relationship between poverty and population, but such view may be entirely different from our stand on the proposed law. For instance, you may believe that poverty is not linked to population, yet may support the bill solely for the reason that it provides a choice to couples. You may also believe that overpopulation makes poverty worse, but won’t support the bill because the multi-million budget related to it should instead be used for better economic programs. With that, let’s open a poll (The poll ran from 30 Sept 2008 to 8 October 2008, and had to be cut short to give way to another poll. Of the 30 votes, 63.3% said “Yes”, they are in favor of the Bill, while 36.7% said “No”). You could also express your opinion at the comment section below.

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• Entrepreneurship Development of Government Employees (House Bill)
• Why Many Filipinos are Poor
• Negosyo: Sagot sa Kahirapan?
• 10 Little Things OFWs, Balikbayans and Pinoy Expats Could Do To Help
• Poll: Are you convinced with the 2009 SONA?