The Philippines birth control battle

Bing planned on having one child, but birth control was never an option. For much of the last decade, the City of Manila, one of Metro Manila's semi-autonomous municipalities, has engaged in a campaign against modern contraception. In 2000, Mayor Lito Atienza issued an order effectively banning birth control from city-funded clinics. Eight years and a new mayor later, the ban persists. The city's affluent minority buys birth control from private clinics or procures condoms on the sly, but poor women, like Bing, go without.

She's hoping that will change. Backed by local women's groups and the Center for Reproductive Rights, Bing and a group of 19 of Manila's poorest residents have taken the city to court. Their potentially precedent-setting lawsuit contends that the ban damages women's health and violates their rights... Unlike most countries in Asia—and most countries around the world—this majority Catholic nation of some 90 million has moved away from birth control. National funds aren't used to buy condoms or pills, and, though local governments are technically free to buy them, many like the City of Manila won't. For years, international organizations filled the void. But that's changing. USAID, once a leading supplier of condoms in the Philippines, is phasing out their contraception program, and some worry other groups will follow... The architects of the ban deny a link between population and poverty. "I reject the notion that we are poor because we are plenty," says former mayor Atienza. "Poverty is caused by mismanagement, not by the number of people.:"

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The Philippines' Birth Control Battle

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Filipinos