Philippines: Clinton ‘To Promote Reproductive Health’

By

By Lourdes Abelardo

A bishop has claimed that the agenda behind today’s visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is neither of the stated items but an attempt to lobby for the passing of a law on reproductive health in the Philippines.

Officially, Clinton is due in Manila to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Philippine-US Mutual Defense Treaty, as well as to attend the launching of a Partnership for Growth.

Father Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, says he is convinced one of the reasons for her visit is to push for the passage of the controversial RH bill.

“I’m not sure about her personal agenda, but I think no matter what her purpose is, the issue of RH will surely crop up,” Father Castro told Church-run Radio Veritas today.

“Clinton herself said that her primary agenda is to push for reproductive health all over the world and that includes abortion,” he claimed.

“I’m sure it will be mentioned in their talks. Let us pray that the president will really think clearly because other countries with population control are now experiencing economic crisis due to their ageing population,” Castro said.

UCA News

The Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News, UCAN) is the leading independent Catholic news source in Asia. A network of journalists and editors that spans East, South and Southeast Asia, UCA News has for four decades aimed to provide the most accurate and up-to-date news, feature, commentary and analysis, and multimedia content on social, political and religious developments that relate or are of interest to the Catholic Church in Asia.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *