Married couples who wanted to use artificial contraceptives should
use their own money to buy them and the government should not use taxes
to acquire the devices in order to distribute them for free, a prominent
Catholic priest said last Saturday.
Fr. Anton Pascual, president of Church-run Radio Veritas and
executive director of Caritas Manila, said the government should not use
taxes paid by Catholics to buy artificial contraceptives whose use ran
counter to the position of the Church.
He added that Church organizations would hold protests to dissuade
lawmakers from setting aside funds in the proposed 2012 national budget
to buy and distribute artificial contraceptives.
“For me, if the married couple will use the pill or contraceptives,
they should buy it. That’s in their conscience if they want to use it as
a sign of responsible parenthood. Be responsible also in your choices.
They should buy it and not (have government) give it freely,” Pascual
told Radio Veritas.
“In the last analysis, it is the conscience of the couple, not the
government or the Church, that will decide what means to use to control
the family,” he said.
Reproductive health advocates claim that the government should
distribute free artificial contraceptives because many Filipinos are too
poor to afford them.
But Pascual said that this was wrong.
“This is the challenge of the Church… that we might have this civil
disobedience, which is a sign of nonviolent protests against the
erroneous propagation of health and population management, an erroneous
program of government,” he added.