Page 6 - COURSE INQUIRY PROJECT - GROUP 4

D E N G V A X I A C O N T R O V E R S
D E N G V A X I A C O N T R O V E R S Y Y
In 2016, the World Health Organization recommended the first dengue vaccine
licensed for use in children (9 years or older) and adults. This vaccine is called CYD-
TDV or Dengvaxia; Pasteur, Lyon, France. The first country to launch this vaccine is
the Philippines. It is introduced in selected highly endemic regions.In the month of
November year 2017, a report was given due to an excessive hospitalization risk for
dengue on people who have received the vaccine. The program was then suspended
following the reanalysis of data. But it was too late by then since more than 830,000
children had already received at least one of the three recommended Dengvaxia
doses. As expected, the parents of the children who had received the vaccine were
alarmed.But where does conscience take place in this issue? The problem in this issue
might be in the difference of opinions. Through the freedom of conscience, people’s
consciences might insist on actions that most people consider harmful. An example
of this is parents refusing to vaccinate their children. The World Health Organization
might have a different opinion regarding the vaccine than the concerned parents of
the children.

A N T I - T E R R O R B I L L L
A N T I - T E R R O R B I L
The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, officially designated as Republic Act No. 11479, is a
Philippine law whose intent is to prevent, prohibit, and penalize terrorism in the
Philippines. This law seeks to silence the voice of the people of this country. "It chills
freedom of expression. It chills free speech. It chills freedom of the press. It chills
freedom of association," this is quoted by Neri Colmenares, a leading human rights
lawyer who is petitioning the Supreme Court, this law. Here is where conscience
becomes a factor. Conscience is what guides us, humans, in viewing what is right or
wrong in our actions. Speaking out loud is what democracy is about. Criticizing what
is wrong in the government, fighting for what is right. It should be in the
government’s conscience when they limit the freedom of people and take their free
will to speak up on what should be right. Conscience is what gives us an
understanding of how we should think of what is right and wrong in this socio-moral
issue.

A B O R T I O N N
A B O R T I O
“"Legal abortion will never rest easy on this nation’s conscience.” Abortion has been one of the country’s main
biggest socio-moral issues because of how the argument is based on life and death. Simply put, it is the process of
ending a pregnancy by removing the fetus. In a religious aspect, abortion is seen as a grave sin in the Catholic Church
because the church taught us to value all human life with respect and protection from the moment they have been
given birth to. The problem with abortion is, it highly contradicts the church’s teachings. However, when the life of
the fetus, even before the moment it was born is at risk, would abortion still be seen as something that is out of the
choices?In 2014, the amount of rape cases that happened in the Philippines in that year alone amounted to almost 10
thousand, and it would increase at an average annual rate of 20.94 percent. With this high amount of rape cases
happening every year, would it not seem like abortion would be a valid option especially with the state of life some
women are in? Most of these women did not intend for this (rape) to happen and they are being wrongfully shamed
for having abortion as an option in their lives. Relating this to the conscience of a human person, people who got
pregnant in an involuntary way should not see it as a bad part of their conscience to have abortion as an option
because they did not really want to have it (pregnancy) in the first place. And in some cases, these women are also not
ready, whether it may be financially or physically, to be a mother to raise their child. In the end, if ever they do plan
to let the child live, they are also risking the chance of their child suffering more if they actually end up living.
However, having an abortion with their own will is a different story. They should have thought first before engaging
in coitus and their sexual desires because it is not their life that they are ruining, it’s the child’s life. Before fulfilling
their sexual libidos, they should have already been ready for the consequences because they knew what they were
getting themselves into.Legalizing abortion in the Philippines may seem like a very controversial and grave sin in the
eyes of the church, however, they must also come to understand that some people were forced to do it against their
own will and the fact that the people who did the rape are not punished enough for this is very uncomforting for
many other women in the Philippines.
APPLICATION ON SOCIO-MORAL ISSUES
APPLICATION ON SOCIO-MORAL ISSUES