The Complexities of Birth Control - Essay Example

?Reflective Preface The essay is about the complexities of birth control on how this is perceived and applied in different countries. In this paper, two extreme cases were presented to illustrate the complexities of perspective and application of birth control in different countries. First, is the case of the centrally planned state China to illustrate how birth control is deliberately used as a policy for national economic development, under the pain of penalty, that the population should be limited to available production of material means as demanded by a socialist state. In China’s case, it is the state which advocates, encourages and enforces birth control without any hindrance but in other country such as Philippines, this is strongly opposed to making the issue complicated that it is difficult to determine which is right or wrong. The process of the research was not that difficult because I am already familiar with the state policy of China about birth control being a Chinese descent myself. I already have a working knowledge of the government’s policy about birth control and I only have to supplement it with a peer reviewed journal to validate what is already known to me. These comparisons of two extreme cases of how birth control is perceived only illustrate that there is no absolute perspective that could be taken as universally right about birth control. It is hoped that with the completion of this paper, the reader may be able to accept that the perspective about birth control really depends according to one’s need, culture, religion and preference and that there is no universally applicable perspective about it. The complexity of the issue of birth control Birth control is a very complex issue. The arguments and policies that support or negate birth control varies with each state that it is very hard to tell which one is right and which one is wrong. There are states that use birth control deliberately as a tool for economic development and often enforced by the state. This often brings complications on the issue such as what I witnessed with the mother of my high school best friend Li, when she had another baby. Although this should not be a problem with the rest of the world because my best friend’s family can support an additional child, the state does not allow this that she was forced to have an abortion. The complication however is not limited to China. There are also countries that see birth control differently that it is not only frowned upon but even strongly opposed making the issue of birth control complicated that it is difficult to adopt a one universally accepted perspective about it. We can take two extreme cases as an example to illustrate how complex the issue of birth control is. In China for example, birth control had been taken to the extreme by the state where couples are only allowed to have one child under the “one child policy” of the government (Muhua and Chen 349). This is implemented under that pretext of socialist development of “National economic development must observe the law of planned and proportionate development. This law requires not only that the . . . production of material means ... but also that human reproduction develop in a planned way” (Muhua and Chen 350). This means that the population is controlled by the government in accordance to its developmental plan and strictly enforced. In plain language, the government mandates that people in China is allowed to only have one child and beyond that, people will be heavily taxed and the child be deprived of social service. These penalties are strongly enforced enough to become a deterrent among couples in China to have more than one child. I personally have seen how this policy is at work when the mother of my best friend in high school named Li became pregnant that she was forced to have an abortion because the second child was deemed illegal. It may seem that a life will become illegal in China but it is a state policy that having more than one child is illegal. This “one child policy” in China makes an interesting point about birth control especially when contrasted with the perspective of other countries which opposes it because in China, birth control is in fact enshrined in its Constitution which explains why the government is brazen in enforcing a one child rule. Chinese Constitution states "The state advocates and encourages birth planning" (Article 53 of the 1978 Constitution cited in Muhua and Chen 352). This is justified by the rationale that the superiority of a socialist planned economy allows it to regulate human reproduction to have a balance between population increase and the means to support it. This is justified further by the Chinese state planner’s disgust on a too rapid increase in population seeing it as a detrimental to the acceleration of capital accumulation (Muhua and Chen 350). Population growth is also viewed as a hindrance in raising the country’s scientific and cultural level and therefore should be controlled. Finally, a huge population is perceived as detrimental to the people’s standard of living (351) that made the state bent on controlling China’s population through a one child policy. My personal experience tells that this policy is sound because our family became relatively comfortable by limiting the child of couples to just one. Today, my parents can take good care of me and provide everything that I need and they have more time to focus on their job to make money. But during their time, their situation was entirely different because they barely have food to eat because there were so many of them. The time and resources of my grandparents were divided by my parents many siblings and as a result, they were poor and this explains why I find this policy sound during China’s struggling years. This one child policy however is no longer applicable today because China’s situation is already different in the same manner that my situation now is different from my parents. While this policy could be justified and sound during China’s struggling years, this one child policy is no longer abreast with the time because China’s is now the second largest economy in the world and therefore have more resources to support its population. The justification of one child policy that population must be controlled according to the resources available is no longer applicable. Birth control as an issue is not only complicated in terms of overly using it even during a time that it is no longer applicable. It can also become complicated when it is being opposed to such as the other case of Catholic Philippines. The Philippines policy about birth control is an interesting case to compare with China because it is diametrically opposed to China both as a matter of state policy and faith. While China seriously implements the one child policy as one of the instruments of the state to progress, the Philippines on the other hand do not equate population control as a tool for economic development. Also, religion plays a very important role about the majority of the Catholic’s perspective about birth control that life should be preserved even if it already strains the resources of a country. This is interesting to compare with China because in China, the national development takes precedence over individual choice and this choice should not be done arbitrarily but according to a national plan (Muhua and Chen 351). Equally interesting is the limited use of birth control to natural method as prescribed by the Catholic religion even if science has already proven that natural family planning is ineffective. Again, this makes an interesting case because in China, there is no qualm about the use of artificial birth control method. This policy would have been changed with its progressive forces and civil society assertion that natural family planning is ineffective and was able to file a bill to make it a law and a national policy. This policy was called Reproductive Health Law as a euphemism of birth control to avoid using the birth control word so as not to antagonize the influential Catholic Church. In the strictest use of the word, the Reproductive Health of the Philippines was not even a birth control mechanism because it does not seek to strictly control the population in the same manner that China does. It only widens the scope of contraceptives to include artificial methods such as the use of condom, pills, IUDs etch of which the state will provide if its citizens will ask for it. Note that these reproductive health services is not even imposed unlike China that its citizens are mandated to have only one child under the penalty of heavy taxation and deprivation of state services such as education. But even this benign form of birth control was met with bitter opposition from the catholic hierarchy where sorts of tactics was used against its passage that ranges from threats of excommunication, threats of non-voting, prayer vigils, black campaign during elections, to legal means of petitioning against it in the Supreme Court (Macaraig). The contention about the bill is so bitter that even if its President, the highest officer of the land has already signed it as a law after passing rigorous process in its Congress, it was still questioned and petitioned before its Supreme Court. At present, it is in the Supreme Court and is still being argued for and against its legality and its fate is still unknown. The argument in the High Court was about a bill filed in the Congress of the Philippines of making Reproductive Health Services available to the general population. The argument was that, there is a high mortality rate of birth related deaths among impoverished mothers and such, mothers should be educated about birth spacing to reduce birth mortality and be given the means if they chooses to reduce their family size (Macaraig). The case of Philippines is unique and impractical becaus despite the evidence of science that natural family planning does not work and the necessity of economics to keep the family small to at leat mitigate poverty, the Church’s policy that contradict science and common sense still seems to prevail (unless the Supreme Court uphold the law as valid). My personal reaction is that it would be difficult to determine which of these two countries are right in their perspective about birth control. Each has its own merit and demerits. Philippines respect with life and refusal to use artificial method (until of course upheld by the Supreme Court for the Reproductive Health to become law) is impractical given its struggling economy while China is violative of human rights in imposing its one child policy. The Philippines regard for life and human rights even of the unborn is however laudable and this reverberates in all aspect of its society that is considered as one of the most vibrant democracy of the world where its citizens are considered happy despite many are poor. China on the other hand is laudable for its political will but it is violative of human rights in its effort to progress as it imposed a one child policy that induces many mothers to have an abortioin just like the mother of my best friend Li. But it cannot be denied that this kind of policy is instrumental to China’s meteoric rise of which Philippines can learn. The case of China and Philippines only showed how complicated the case of birth control is. In my further reaction, both countries are right and also wrong in their perspectives about birth control and both can learn from each other about birth control. Philippines need to learn the pragmatism of China to control its population and have a meteoric progress such as China and be able to accumulate capital that would produce goods. Although Philippines is now the fastest growing economy in South East Asia, its economic gains can be easily offset by the expenditures of a huge population. China on the other hand can also learn from the Philippines about human rights and regard for life. China’s record about human right and regard for life is far from ideal and this has subjected her to the criticism of the world making her soft power weak. Also, the pretext of the one child policy as a birth control method is no longer applicable because the justification of the government is no longer applicable today making it the issue of birth control complicated. Works Cited Chen Muhua; Pi-chao Chen. “Birth Planning in China” Family Planning Perspectives, 11.6 (1979):348-354. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2134218. 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