Family planning is arguably one of the most important public health concerns in our country. It is defined as a woman’s ability to decide if and when to have children, and a lot of us are still concerned with the contradicting factors each country has encountered. And as a part of the growing community, I have been a firm believer that this is as important as any social concerns we are experiencing especially since the relevance will be greatly affecting our future generations.
The primary purpose of family planning is to guide and help us control the number of unwanted pregnancies and achieve any ideal number of family members of every household. Although the word "control" might have a negative connotation to it, a more positive outcome will be the effect of learning and accepting this concept. Once achieved, we can progressively help our own country in resolving other socio-economic concerns such as poverty, lack of education, domestic abuse, and overpopulation. Aside from these, we will also be able to slowly prevent the stigma of marriage for the sake of having a complete family due to unwanted pregnancies. Undergoing counseling, access to contraception, and access to safe abortion will protect our fellow Filipinos from being locked in a situation due to a circumstance that can be prevented.
Surely, there is a number of benefit from this concept, however, a lot of cons are lined up as well. Specifically, with our country, this is very contradicting topic between the church and the government. Some of it is evidently the opposite of what the church has taught us and it will be harder for everyone to support such a contrary concept of life. And hopefully, a more conducive option will be developed to compensate both principles of our society.
