Cardinal willing to be jailed over reproductive health bill

Cardinal Ricardo Vidal of Cebu, who retired on October 15 at the age of 79, said on the eve of his retirement that he was willing to go to prison rather than accept the provisions in proposed Philippine legislation that provide for widespread distribution of contraceptives, including abortifacients such as the IUD.

The bill also punishes all healthcare providers-- whether public or private-- who refuse to perform sterilizations “on the ground of lack of spousal consent or authorization” or who “knowingly withhold information or impede the dissemination thereof, and/or intentionally provide incorrect information regarding programs and services on reproductive health including the right to informed choice and access to a full range of legal, medically-safe and effective family planning methods.”

“God forbid but if they succeed; I would be the first to go to jail because I will break the law,” Cardinal Vidal said. “We’re not supposed to talk against it once it becomes a law, but I am wiling to go to jail because I will continue to talk about and go against it.” The law, he says, sanctions those who speak out against it.

Regarding the “controversial move to deny Holy Communion to those legislators who are actively pushing for the enactment into law the proposal to legalize abortion, I would like to clarify that the call is actually a reminder to the conscience of all that abortion is a grave moral evil and therefore, anyone who effectively allows or intends its commission is a cooperator in the murder of an innocent human life,” he added.