Manny Pacquaio's latest fight could be much tougher than pounding on “Sugar” Shane Mosley for 12 rounds.
Fresh off his trouncing of the American welterweight contender, Pacquiao, 32 – who also serves as a Sarangani representative in the Filipino Congress – has entered the ring again to denounce a reproductive health bill that he and his fellow lawmakers are considering.
The bill has several controversial provisions, such as the requirement that women experiencing problems after abortions, which would still be banned, must be treated humanely and compassionately.
Pacquiao and President Benigno Aquino III, a backer of the bill, agree abortion should be outlawed, The Manila Times reported. Where they part ways is on the issue of contraception, according to Filipino media.
Aquino believes couples should be educated on birth control and should be free to choose the method they deem most appropriate, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. Pacquiao, on the other glove, opposes contraception and paraphrased Genesis to defend his stance.
“God said, ‘Go forth and multiply.' He did not say, ‘Go and have just one or two children,’” the People’s Champ said, according the paper.
Some of the bill’s supporters slammed his literal interpretation of the Bible. Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said the pugilist, who is Catholic, like 81% of Filipinos, was acting like a fundamentalist. Disregarding his status as a fellow legislator, she further questioned his foray into what she said was a sociopolitical issue.
“We cannot be know-it-alls. It will be very misleading to use his celebrity status to enter into what is, after all, a great debate on the political economy,” she told the Daily Inquirer.
PacMan’s remarks are not controversial solely on religious or political grounds. As Defensor-Santiago pointed out, Pacquiao’s wife, Jinkee, recently acknowledged taking birth control pills.
The Phillipines’ GMA News reported this week that a doctor said Jinkee Pacquiao – also an opponent of the reproductive health bill – began using the pills after the couple’s fourth child, Queenie, was born. She took them to get back in shape, according to reports.
“That was in the past, but now she no longer does,” GMA quoted the eight-division champ as telling reporters.
Citing an April poll from the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit focusing on sex education and health, GMA News said Pacquiao’s wife wasn’t different from the overwhelming majority of Catholic women who have sex.
The poll states that 98% of those polled have used some means of contraception “other than natural family planning.”
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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The Bible forbids boxing (yeah it's in there somewhere). And boxing gloves (leather) Burnnnnnn Pac man BUUUUURRrrrnnnnnn!
Looks like somebody has been hit in the head one too many times. Does he really his country to end up like China and India?
He is against birth control, but his wife takes the pill.
Thank you for reporting this, CNN. It's so refreshing to know that U.S. politicians are not the only ones who are hypocrites.
Gosh darn religion in lawmaking again! SICK OF IT!!!!
Not news CNN. Time-Warner bought CNN and the company went down the toilet.
God said go forth and mulitply....he never said we didnt have the right to choose how many and when so condom up people!
When I'm boxing in the ring, I wear two condoms, but when I street fight, I take one off and feel like a wildman.
LMAOOOOO that was good.
props to Dennis Miller for that bit.
The Philipines already has an overpopulation probem and too many babies.
The WORLD has an overpopulation problem. Virtually every problem facing the world today, especially environmental ones, boils down to their being too many people on the planet.
Just another example of the media giving a free platform to any self-promoting, brain damaged celebrity who's preposterous ideas will generate web traffic. It's not news it's CNN.
Try the rhythm method. That way you won't have more than about 6 or 7 kids.
Yep! Cap it before you tap it!
I have a difficult time believing that God would look to us now and say "go forth and multiply" without constraint. Somehow it seems very unlikely that over-population, and the steady decreasing of our natural resources would be what God had in mind. It's an irresponsible stance for humans to take, and negates the wonderful, logical, thinking tool he gave us when we were Blessed with brains!
facepalm.jpg
great, another know it all man w/out a set of ovaries spouting off at the mouth on women's reproductive rights. just shut up. and to be ok w/his wife taking serious horomones just to "get in shape"? he's as nutz as she it! what a loser. keep your rosary off the ovary.
I'm sure if a God did say "go forth and multiply" he meant with in reason not to destroy the earth. maybe just enough to ensure a health population.. To bad he didn't toss a little more commonsense into the mix.. or maybe we just inbreed that out..