Philippine Poor Women Yearn for Birth Control

While surveys show women have 3.05 children on average in the Philippines, and over 60 percent of mothers surveyed report not wanting additional children, access to condoms and other birth control products remains difficult. Of the country's 3.1 million pregnancies per year, half are unintended or unwanted, and about one-third end in abortion, according to the UN Population Fund. About two in five women who say they wish to use contraceptives do not have access to them.

A bill in the Congress of the Philippines would promote school-based sex education, contraceptives, and free birth control medical services at the national level. However, the legislation is facing stiff resistance from the Roman Catholic Church, which counts 80 percent of the population as adherents and actively opposes artificial birth control.

Politicians who want a stable career fear antagonizing the Catholic Church, but the bill has many undeclared supporters. Similar legislation has not passed in the House since the initial draft in 1988. Just two dozen legislators have publicly committed to the bill, which needs 86 supporters to pass in the House of Representatives. One 2007 public poll found seven in 10 adults supported the measure.

"The bill shall pass," said Carlos Celdran, a reproductive rights activist. "Because our chances are big as the Catholic Church is divided and the opposition is not as strong as in 1990s. But we could still lose the game: Most of the congressmen on our side are absent or are forced to be absent on the voting day."

At the entrance of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines, a banner declares unambiguous opposition to the bill. "We admonish those who are promoting the bill to consider these matters," said Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, CBCP's president. "It is the duty of every Catholic faithful to form and conform their consciences to the moral teaching of the Church."

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