Philippines to implement family planning law in blow to church

MANILA: A long-awaited Philippine family planning law to provide free hormonal contraceptives is finally going ahead, health officials said Thursday, ending a two-year impasse in which the Supreme Court demanded proof that they did not cause abortions.

The announcement marked a victory over the influential Catholic church which counts most of the Philippine population as followers and opposes all forms of artificial contraception.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said 51 types of contraceptive pills, coils and injectables could now be distributed to the public after the Food and Drug Administration certified they did not cause abortions, defeating a petition filed by a Catholic group.

“It is now all systems go for us in the Department of Health to implement the (Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health) law,” Duque told reporters.

For years, the Church has waged a bruising battle against government efforts to promote birth control despite the country’s widespread poverty and ballooning population.

The reproductive health law granting access to contraceptives was passed in 2012 despite strong Church opposition. However abortion remains illegal.

A religious group filed a case with the Supreme Court charging that many of the governmentissued contraceptives were abortifacients and therefore banned.

This prompted the court to issue in 2015 a restraining order on the 51 contraceptives pending a finding by the FDA.