For the past 14 years, 34-year old Lorna Villar has given birth seven times. Her last pregnancy caused her blood pressure to rise to dangerous levels. She now says that contraception is a matter that is important as life and death.
Villar now finds herself lining up in a crowded clinic to avail of free contraceptives. She is now among the 34% of women in the Philippines aged 15 to 49 who use modern forms of birth control.
According to the UN Population Fund, one in five reproductive-aged women have an unmet need for family planning.
Relief could come in the form of a reproductive health bill supported by President Benigno Aquino which promises subsidized or free contraception specifically for the poor so says Ugochi Daniels, country Philippine representative of the UN Population Fund.
However, the bill has been continually re-filed and blocked since its introduction 14 years ago due to opposition from the Philippine Catholic Church.
According to the assistant legal counsel to the CBCP (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines) James Imbong, utilizing artificial contraception is denying the natural powers of life-giving God has given us.
Data from the World Health Organization shows that 37% of pregnancies in the Philippines are unplanned. More than a third of these end in illegal and unsafe abortion according to New York-based sexual and reproductive health policy researcher Guttmacher Institute.
Saramma Mathai, maternal health adviser and team coordinator for the UN Fund’s Asia Pacific regional Bangkok Office, claims that the Philippines can do better in its reproductive health goals if it wants to sustain its development.
In a 2004 study made by the University of the Philippines Population Institute, premarital sexual activity increased to 23% among youth aged 15 to 24. But the Church claims that providing teens with contraceptives will only increase that rate.
Source: Condom Queues Incite Church Tensions in The Philippines