(This speech was delivered during the December 8 Prayer Rally against the Anti-Life and Anti-Family Bills at the DWAD Gym)
SEXUAL AND
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Paper published in the LEXICON of the PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR THE FAMILY Vatican
, Rome Translated from the Italian original publication by HUMAN LIFE
INTERNATIONAL 2006
BY
Jose Alfredo Peris Cancio Doctor of Law, with degrees in Philosophy and
Education, Professor of Philosophy of Law, Cardenal Herrera - CDU University of
Valencia Professor- Academic Director of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute
of Valencia, Spain and the Institute Redemptoris Hominis of Cordova, Spain;
President, Edetania Foundation, Author of various books and articles, including:
Familia, Doctrina-Social (1998); Diez temas sobre los derechos de la familia
(2002)
Excerpts 2
DEFINITION.
The term reproductive rights (RR) is
frequently used by those who ideologically defend these rights. But since the
term lacks a proper definition regarding its scope and content, its supporters
consider that a precise definition is necessary to achieve a more efficient
vindication of these rights and to guarantee the protection of the practices
involved in them.
Under the REVISED RULES OF COURT, RULE 130, SEC. 46: Learned
Treatises. - A published treatise, periodical or pamphlet on a subject of
history, law, science or art is admissible as tending to prove the truth of a
matter stated therein if the court takes judicial notice, or a witness expert in
the subject testifies, that the writer of the statement in the treatise,
periodical or pamphlet is recognized in his profession or calling as expert in
the subject."
As put together by ATTY. JO M. IMBONG. Legal Office, CBCP as an aid in
deliberations of HB 3773 and HB 634.
Along with its ambiguity, the term is always connected to sexual rights, so in
most cases we refer to them as "sexual and reproductive
rights" (SRR). x x x
DESCRIPTION OF ITS CONTENT
The list of rights that tend to be included in the category of SRR turns out to be more illustrative than a mere definition.
The compilation of three 1996 texts: The Declaration of Sexual and Reproductive Rights by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) 1, Mari Ladi Londono's Sexual and Reproductive Rights, and the Open Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Chile has made it possible to identify the following rights, which is also open to new inclusions, such as:
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The right to exercise and enjoy sexual independence, according to one's preferences as well as the right to due legal protection.
Pleasant and recreational sex, independent of reproduction
Appropriate knowledge and information on sex and reproduction.
Love, sensuality and eroticism in sexual relations. x x x -
Rejection of all external interventions in sexual activities. .
Freedom from fear, embarrassment, guilt and other imposed beliefs that inhibit the sexuality of a person and diminish his/her relationships.
Selection of a partner to have sex without coercion or violence. x x x -
Voluntary and free decision for motherhood without obligations.
Complete information on the benefits, risks and effects related to contraceptives.
From the above set of rights we can easily deduce that SRR are really a program to transform the morality of sexuality and life, a political agenda to change the sexual and family customs of people, especially of those in the South, focusing on the traditionally Catholic Latin-American countries.
There is a deep cultural and political movement to change the meaning of the constitutions and the sex education programs in these countries. In fact, there are quite a few web pages dedicated to the spreading of RR in Latin America. x x x
SOCIAL AND LEGAL PENETRATION OF SRR
THE POLITICAL DISCOURSE
Reproductive rights are justified from a liberal individualistic logic, whose
ideological connection is spreading what is known as "political
liberalism". x x x
Human rights interpreted in individualistic terms justify the
internal policy of states as well as their presence in the international sphere.
Conceptualizing rights in these terms is considered a politically correct demand
on democracies considered to be "decent'.
From this point of view, states are obliged to provide
reproductive health services as a way to protect human lives regardless of sex;
a view that guards the right of individuals to self-determine their sexual and
reproductive options x x x.
THE SOCIAL DISCOURSE ON "EQUALITY" OF RIGHTS
In poor or marginalized zones, the discourse about SRR is presented as a commitment for the marginalized woman and her freedom. X x x The goal is to have the woman of color enjoy her right to choose ("CHOICE"), and to do so it is necessary to pinpoint the "discrimination", past and present, which is focused on the difficulties in having safe and legal abortions. x x x
The objective is to identify the social support provided to women with their
role as women, not only as mothers together with just and necessary measures to
improve the sanitary and social conditions of women, there is an obsessive
tendency to consider recourse to abortion as the key to liberating women.
THE LEGAL DISCOURSE ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
The SRR discourse enters formal and stable democracies 3 through interpretations
of constitutions.
Although not recognized as rights in international documents,
the practice of artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, embryo
transfer, the possibility of cloning, and in general, everything that is known
as `assisted reproduction techniques: force discussion on the existence of a
right to procreate. x x x The right to procreate is not usually taken as an
absolute right, but one whose precise boundaries must be established. x x x
The key to legal penetration of SRR in constitutional states
is in depriving the human embryo of its personhood. As a matter of fact, the
methods of assisted reproduction depend on the creation of extra embryos, which
opens debate on what to do with the frozen gametes and embryos stored for a long
time. x x x
MORAL JUDGMENT OF SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Undoubtedly, there is a moral premise behind these political, legal and social
proposals that must be dealt with because they affect the relationship between
the human being with his/her sexuality, and the condition of women. x x x
From a political, social and legal point of view, there are
many things that need to be reflected upon and corrected regarding the lived
experiences of sexuality and family among peoples. x x x
CONFRONTING THE LOGIC OF STATISM,
AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE FAMILY
SRR have the clear risk of emptying the family of its richness to make the
individual more dependent on the machinery of the State.
Far from fostering the personal freedom to create a family,
they encourage State intervention , reducing the sphere of the personal world.
The adventure of loving as a husband and as a wife, as parents and as children
is persecuted and substituted by the apparent ease of destroying procreation and
life. 4
3 Like the Philippines (Reader's note.)
4 Through the contraceptive or anti-life mentality. (Reader's note.)
The sovereignty of the family demands recognition that thee
functions are proper to a human context, founded on marriage, that develop in a
responsible and socially efficient way the task of the most intimate and
profound formation of the human personality The "reproductive union" between the
State and the individual can only bring about an ever greater latent dependency
of the public on the collectivity The best antidote for a radically
individualistic interpretation of human rights_ is _a defense of the rights of
the family.
CONFRONTING THE LOGIC OF INDIVIDUALISM,
AND THE LOGIC OF COMMUNION
The rights of the family, as conceived by the Holy See in its 1983 Charter [of
the Rights of the Family] try to correct the individualistic interpretation of
human rights. x x x
Human rights are not spheres of compatible, abstract liberty,
but understandings of the common good, of the personal responsibilities to build
it. When the "right to procreate" is claimed, the rights of the other person,
the future childe, are being forgotten, and contradict the very logic of those
rights. x x x
One does not have the duty to respect abortion as a choice
belonging to the individual freedom of women, or a need to respect the
mistreatment of children in the future by the techniques of assisted
reproduction. Rather, one has the duty to ask public authorities to protect the
rights of _ persons of the unborn and to correct any existing inconsistencies in
a way compatible with this good.
Rights are not liberties without duties. They perfectly articulate the duties to
achieve human coexistence, the common good.
CONFRONTING SECULAR ORTHODOXY AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
SRR often seem to be based on a kind of agnostic vision of the world, whose
content is wished to be imposed in public life as well as private life. x x x
See ARTICLE II Section 12, and Article XV, Sections 1 - 4 of the Philippine
Constitution
The areas of sexuality and human life are affected by the
experience of religion because these are far from trivial phenomena in people's
lives and decisively affect their life's orientation. The only adequate context
for this experience is the development of a true religious freedom that will
permit faith to come to the aid of reason in order to protect the complete image
of the human being.
A religious freedom restricted to the private sphere, as a kind of sentimental
fantasy irrelevant to the making of human decisions, is a deformation of such
faith. The experience of guilt is not religiously adequate if it does not grasp
the compassion and forgiveness of God, the Father, who loves His children.
Therefore, it is not necessary to abandon religious language to understand this.
CONFRONTING THE MANIPULATION OF SEXUALITY
AND THE EDUCATION OF THE PERSON
Finally, SRR propose a perspective of the experience of sexuality that tends to
be disembodied, calculating and hallucinatory. Sexuality, life and family
coexist inside the logic of the body which is never as malleable as the mental
or the imaginary, but have an imperative realism before the human being.
Sexuality is a dimension of the person whose real
possibilities of attaining happiness derive from his/her education or the lack
thereof. Family life or the generous gift of one's family life to God or to
great human causes are the only scenarios for a happy human life.
Only by the constant practice of sincere giving of oneself
can one know true happiness, a gift that includes one's sexuality and one's
heart. Away from this, there is a tendency for skepticism to a greater or lesser
degree.
Young people will not be able to educate themselves if they do not have this
wisdom, or worse, if public campaigns are dedicated to building fantasy words of
sexual happiness . x x x
Being a man or a woman implies educating oneself for a
concrete and effective happiness - which proceeds from putting your own life at
the service of a good that goes beyond oneself. The search for this will not
mislead, and is able to generate the best in fife of every individual.
CONCLUSIONS
In gathering the information on reproductive rights and the moral judgment of them it is important to highlight the following points:
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From a scientific point of view, the expression SRR must be eliminated because it is an ambiguous and vague category whose contents are implemented at random. Reducing the same provisions to SRR does not increase precision.
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From a political point of view, it is part of a strategy o radical liberal groups to impose their ideas in matters of sexuality and human life, emptying the contents of the wellbeing of the family.
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From a legal point of view, it lacks any anthropological support as an expression of what is due in justice to others for the construction of the common good.
Up until now, the expression SRR is not established in any positive norm, national or international, so it is incorporated under a wide interpretation of rights, that is, the right to have rights, or from the systemic interpretation of the constitutional principles, personal freedom, the free development of one's personality, the right to health care services or the like. -
Philosophically, it comes from an agnostic vision in which religious thought is distrusted, seen as synonymous with guilt and antagonistic to sexual pleasure. This leads to attacks on effective religious freedom for persons and families.
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The 1983 Charter of the Rights of the Family of the Holy See is capable of integrating some of the claims of SRR that deal with human well-being, but also maintaining the protection of the well-being of the person, the family and the society.
It can inspire adequate principles for interpreting the harmonization of the human rights implied in sexuality, family, and human life. Other initiatives like the Declaration of ' Rights of the Embryo, and of the unborn fetus, could help correct the excesses provoked by invoking SRR. -
The situation of the woman does not improve by invoking her SRR but with the protection of the good of marriage, of sexual education and of the conditions that will make motherhood possible, as well as the health of children during pregnancy, during and after birth. Only in this way can a woman have the freedom and dignity to be a woman without surrendering her right to be a
mother. -
Only by overcoming the nihilistic and mentalist visions of sexuality proposed by SRR can we obtain a true sexuality education and promote the true well-being of both human communion and the concrete happiness of people.
With strikingly similar provisions in the Philippine Constitution.
In the right manner, without omitting or undermining the sacramental nature of human sexuality.