A party-list lawmaker on Tuesday condemned gestures of a former Catholic Church official for threatening supporters of legalized abortion with excommunication, saying that retired Dagupan Archibishop Oscar Cruz propagates "medieval thinking."

Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello also accused Cruz, a Canon Law expert, of using excommunication for intimidating the supporters of the controversial Reproductive Health (HB) bill, which the solon proposed in the House of Representatives.

“This is the same medieval thinking that condemned Galileo Galilei for saying that the earth moves around the sun. Cruz is obviously trying to intimidate supporters of the RH bill, which is not pro-abortion,” Bello said.

Bello clarified that the RH measure does not promote abortion, which is considered as a mortal sin that can be penalized with excommunication in Roman Catholicism, contrary to the black propaganda being thrown by critics.

But Alliance of Concern Teachers (ACT) party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio expressed confidence that the threat of Cruz would not have strong impact to Catholic families.

“Obviously, such threats from the Church hierarchy have little influence on many families. Passage of RH legislation will prevent abortions by empowering families to plan births. Opposition to the RH bill, ironically, allows abortions to continue to take place,” Tinio said.

Meanwhile, Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, one of the main proponents of RH measure, noted that there's no such thing as partially-legalized abortion, assuring that any proposal to legalize abortion will never be passed in the 15th Congress.

Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao, Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara and Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong also agreed that legalizing abortion is not an issue because no lawmaker would support it unless it is aimed at saving lives through medical procedures.

"Abortion can’t be legal in the Philippine because our Constitution grants rights even to the unborn. I can bet that any move to legalize abortion will be stillborn,” Aggabao said.

“The matter of excommunication is really the prerogative of the Catholic Church and it is an internal matter into which the government has no business interfering in. I myself am not in favor of legalizing abortion,” said Angara.

House minority leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman filed House Bill No. 3 or the Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood, and Population and Development measure, which gives the parents and couples the freedom of informed choice from among modern-natural and artificial family planning methods.

Lagman said the measure recognizes the undeniable nexus or linkage between population and development because the issue on population directly affects human development indicators on health, education, food security, employment, mass housing and the environment.