Change, at last. After a deeply divisive, decadelong battle, the Philippines' legislature on Monday approved a landmark piece of legislation that will allow the government to provide basic funding for sex education and contraceptives. The Reproductive Health Bill, which is expected to be signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday, was introduced more than 10 years ago, but languished in the legislature because of strong opposition from the Catholic Church and its allies in government. Not five years ago, many thought the bill would never pass, that the country was too divided, that the Church was too strong. But supporters fought on and found an ally in President Aquino, who took office in 2010. "The Reproductive Health Bill will have profound implications for improving the health and lives of women throughout the country," wrote Human Rights Watch's Carlos Conde in a statement. "The Aquino administration should be credited for having the political will to muster support for the bill in Congress despite the threat of a political backlash." The Philippines, a majority Catholic nation of 96 million, has long been an outlier in terms of reproductive rights. Over the past 20 years, while most of Asia —and indeed, much of the world — embraced voluntary family planning, the country cracked down on contraception. Though poll data suggest the majority of Filipinos believe in birth control, the country's Catholic Church contends that the use of modern methods of contraception, such as condoms and birth-control pills, is an affront to God's will and a threat to public health. Likening condoms to abortion, they have vigorously opposed any attempt to broaden reproductive rights. In a 2008 interview, Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, a vocal anticontraception campaigner, told me that women ought to avoid sexual intercourse on all but their least fertile days. Family-planning advocates, he said, were merely "propagandists of a culture of death." Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/12/17/culture-wars-after-a-decade-of-debate-the-philippines-passes-reproductive-health-bill/#ixzz2FNkD8JuV http://world.time.com/2012/12/17/culture-wars-after-a-decade-of-debate-the-philippines-passes-reproductive-health-bill/

• published: 18 Dec 2012
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