Do You Agree About The Use Of Condoms Or Natural Family Planning?

By Alon Calinao Dy: The population of the Philippines has increased quickly from 2010 t0 2014. According to the National Statistics Office (NSO) in 2010, the total population of the state is 92,337,852. As of this moment, it is estimated that it is over 100 million in total.

The government is looking for a solution to halt the growth of population since the economy is not much stable and many Filipinos have no stable jobs to sustain their growing families. In fact, the Philippines is at the 12th most populated country in the world, followed by Vietnam and Ethiopia, and continues to rise at a rate of 2% per year.

According to Internet World Stats, China bears the highest population with 1,355,692,576, followed by India and United States who garnered 1,236,344,631 and 318,892,103. Yet, the overpopulation of these three countries went after their fastest growing economies.

The Philippine economy is not enough to alleviate the poverty in the country, and remittances from OFWs around the world play a vital role to help the economy stay afloat.

Solutions to overpopulation

A. The Use Of Condoms- The government is involved in advocating the use of condoms to avoid unnecessary pregnancies among teens. Condoms are also highly effective against sexually transmitted infections (STD) —HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. 

Personally, I don't have a problem using a condom when it helps control the growth of population and STDs. Still, proper education about the use of condoms among sexually actives is needed because some believe that there is no trail if you wear a condom during the actual sexual intercourse.

B. The Method of Natural Family Planning- This strategy helps childbearing women to avoid early and late pregnancies to prevent the risks. It also helps plan married people to have a certain limit of children and make them mindful of their responsibilities as parents. Lastly, it teaches safe sex techniques like a calendar method to keep off any unwanted pregnancy. 

Though Pope Francis said that Catholics do not need to breed "like rabbits," the question is: does everyone have a right self-discipline to implement this? Although the church is preaching the importance of monogamy, another question is: do most people conform to this teaching?

I think it is about time the church needs to be realistic and consider the use of condoms in order to prevent unwanted pregnancy and protect people from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).