Unlike in other western countries where liberal ideologies and modern medical technology have flourished and changed the mainstream of thoughts, the Philippines is still considered as a developing country and a highly populated Catholic nation—the bulwark of Catholicism in South East Asia. The Catholic Church strongly condemns direct abortion as a serious violation against God’s law. Paul Dominic Olinares poem speaks about this experience. PAYO SA MAGPAPALAGLAG: Mas mapanganib/ Kung uuwi ka sa baryo./ Bibinhian ng tsismis/ang iyong pagkabuntis/at kakalat ang haka-hakang/ tikbalang o engkanto/ang binatang nakabiktima./Maano’ng hindi ka magising/isang hatinggabing inaalulong ng aso/ang pagsilip ng buwang tatanglaw/sa pamamayagpag ng pakpak/na sumusukol sa amoy ng sinapupunan./Maano’ng hindi mo maalimpungatan/ang maingat na paglapag sa atip/ang pagkalmot ng mga kuko,/ang marahang pagbutas/na lulusutan ng inuunti-unting paghaba/ ng dilang asintado/ang maumbok mong tiyan./Huwag mong sabihing hindi ka binalaan./Dumito ka na lamang sa Maynila./Kusa mo silang hanapin,/silang lisensyado n ang lipunan./Ikuwento ang pag-ibig, ang biglang-liko,/ang biglaang pagkakatakwil./Inumin mo ang kanilang laway sa bawat pagbisita/bilang paghahanda/sa gabing papahiran ng langis/ang iyong tiyan at puwerta/hihimas-himasin,/hihilutin nang madiing-madiin./Huwag mangamba/sa pagdurugo./Huwag bibitawan ang paghinga/Hanggang tila mahihiwalay/ang tiyan sa balakang/at tuluyang mahugot/ang duguang kabigatan./Tila tinubuan ka ng pakpak/sa gaan ng pakiradam.

This poem generally speaks our experience of abortion in the Philippines. Young people resort to abortion as a result of pre-marital sex. This also happens among prostitutes and adulterous relationships when contraception does not work, abortion is the easy way out. Unlike in the United States, we do not abort fetuses because of a belief that there is massive population or because the woman wants to remain as sexy as she is. Abortion takes place in hospitals and clinics but more Filipino people resort to folk practices and local shamans, for economic reason. I would like to believe also that Philippines tops the lists of countries that contribute to the high number of mortality rate due to induced abortion.

If one tries to look at the issue culturally and historically, we Filipinos are still deeply religious. We abide with the teachings of the church and we believe in the sacredness of life. Our Catholic tradition has greatly influenced us. Though I am convinced also that we remain faithful to the teachings of the church—that is orthodoxy and yet we lack on the so-called orthopraxis—that means we lack witnessing. For Filipinos, we have a special affection to the Child Jesus or Santo Niño, hence direct abortion is impermissible for a people who have this devotion to the little child. What happens to our devotion? What happens to our Catholic faith? We have reduced the image of Santo Niño to lucky charms. We have made it a museum artifact. One should evaluate therefore our devotion, our way of expressing our faith. Our Catholic faith has influenced us in looking at the complex issue of abortion.

Filipinos resort to abortion because of our culture of hiya. A culture of hiya should never be solicited in issues where lives of innocent people are at stake. Nakakahiya kaya ipalaglag na lang natin, ano na lang ang sasabihin ng mga tao? Makasupog sa mga madrina ko, ano na lang ang sasabihon kan mga barkada kong padi? We need to evaluate our culture. Purge it. I do not tolerate pre-marital sex in favor of this culture of hiya. Hindi naman pala nakakahiya. Hindi dapat tayo hiya. Mabuti na yon, aging walang hiya tayo, hubad na. No that is not what I mean. What I am saying therefore is we need to look at sexuality as a gift and at the same time a power—a power that entails responsibility. Irresponsible use of power corrupts. We need to have a balance view of sexuality it is not our gods and it is not also evil. If we draw the thin line between the two, we will a society that is both caring and nurturing.