News

Thursday March 4, 2010


Filipino Bishops Demand Ban on Condom Ads, Advocate Warning Labels

By Patrick B. Craine

MANILA, Philippines, March 4, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic Bishops of the Philippines have called on the government to ban advertisements for condoms, arguing that condoms promote promiscuity and thus damage marriage and family life as well as contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Bishop Nereo Odchimar, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), stressed that “formation in authentic sexual values, more concretely expressed in premarital chastity and fidelity to spouse, is the only effective way to curb the spread of AIDS.”

On February 13th, the country’s Department of Health (DoH) distributed free condoms en masse in the poorer areas of Manila and other regions as part of their campaign to fight the spread of AIDS. Numerous Catholic bishops rebuked the government; some even called for Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral to be fired. The DoH, however, has defended their actions.

In Tuesday’s statement, Bishop Odchimar pointed out that “given its high failure rate, the condom cannot really put a stop to AIDS.” The condom “encourages promiscuity,” he said, “by creating a false sense of security” and thus further contributes to the spread of AIDS.”

The resources used to promote condoms should instead be used “to fight diseases that afflict millions of people in our country each year,” he said, as well as to provide “food, medicines, education and work.”

“The condom business is a multi-million dollar industry that heavily targets the adolescent market, at the expense of morality and family life,” the bishop continued. “Condom advertisements should be banned in television, radio, movies, newspapers, magazines, and public places, as they desensitize the youth’s delicate conscience and weaken their moral fibers as future parents.”

He goes on to advocate warnings on condom packages such as those found on cigarettes. The warning, he says, should read: “Condoms may fail to protect from AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.”

There were only 629 confirmed new cases of HIV/AIDS in the country of 88 million people last year, and the nation boasts one of the lowest infection rates in Asia. About 80% of the population is Catholic, and the bishops exercise considerable influence.

Dr. Ligaya Acosta, Regional Coordinator for Asia with Human Life International, also decried the DoH for its promotion of condoms.

“We condemn the Department of Health for advocating the use of condoms when they know that based on abundant scientific researches, does not prevent pregnancy and actually increases the risk of HIV, which leads to AIDS and dozens of other sexually-transmitted diseases,” she told Inquirer.net. “They are lying to the people.”

Dr. Acosta worked with the DoH for 28 years as a firm believer in the benefits of contraceptives and population control before her conversion to the pro-life perspective in 2004.

She told Inquirer.net that the best way the government can prevent sexually transmitted diseases would be to promote “abstinence until marriage and being faithful to your partner.”

“Abstinence is the only foolproof way of preventing the spread of HIV-AIDS and maintaining a monogamous relationship, being faithful to your partner,” she said.


See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Filipino Bishops: “Condoms and Irresponsible Sex Increases Spread of AIDS”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10021604.html