A lawmaker vigorously opposing the Reproductive Health Bill said the measure is against the basic mandate of the Constitution which guarantees the sanctity of life and human dignity.

Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles has repeatedly said that RH is an unnecessary piece of legislation.

Nograles made the statement after  Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said he will block any dilatory tactics in the discussion of the bill.

According to Belmonte, who is pro-RH, he wanted the bill to reach voting in this 15th Congress.

But Nograles stressed that since the Constitution mandates the protection of life and human dignity, the RH bill is unconstitutional because it promotes the use of contraceptives which prevent life.

“It should be political, social and economic development for the sake of humanity, and not the other way around where human life is put at risk in the interest of supposed development,” he argued.

Even as Nograles acknowledges that the war against poverty is a complex global problem, he stressed that population control is not the best solution to alleviate poverty.

“Why deny life to the very recipients of development? Can the proponents of institutional population control assure the people that abortion will never be resorted to in the guise of responsible parenthood?” the young solon asked.