:00:02. > :00:06.remove a cigarette branding. Now on BBC News it's time for Our World.
:00:06. > :00:14.Kate McGeown reports from Manila on how women are risking their lives
:00:14. > :00:20.with desperate abortion measures. The Philippines is one of the most
:00:21. > :00:22.catholic countries in the world. But some Filipinos believe
:00:22. > :00:32.traditional teachings on contraception are condemning
:00:32. > :00:35.
:00:35. > :00:40.millions to a life of poverty. A radical plan to provide free birth-
:00:40. > :00:42.control is challenging the power of the Church as never before. It is
:00:42. > :00:52.not the business of the government to be promoting contraceptive
:00:52. > :01:02.devices. We are here to celebrate life! What is the alternative?
:01:02. > :01:20.
:01:20. > :01:23.Should I keep quiet? But with neither side willing to back down,
:01:23. > :01:33.who will win this increasingly bitter battle between the President
:01:33. > :01:33.
:01:33. > :02:14.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 41 seconds
:02:14. > :02:17.and the Pulpit? Lunchtime in Tondo, a slum in Manila. For 42-year-old
:02:17. > :02:21.Clarissa, finding each meal is a struggle. Large families are common
:02:21. > :02:24.here. This woman and her husband have ten children. The youngest of
:02:24. > :02:28.whom is a baby. The family home is this one-bedroom shack with no
:02:28. > :02:38.electricity. She is rarely able to find work so the family live a
:02:38. > :02:42.hand-to-mouth existence. Often we have nothing to eat. When my
:02:42. > :02:52.children are sick, we have to pawn whatever we can. Half of my stuff
:02:52. > :02:52.
:02:52. > :02:55.is always pawned. To help out, her children work here. In the slums,
:02:55. > :02:59.many children have to skip school to scavenge rubbish dumps for
:02:59. > :03:07.anything they can sell. It is a grinding cycle of poverty from
:03:07. > :03:12.which the young have little chance of escape. TRANSLATION: It hurts
:03:12. > :03:16.because my kids really want to go to school. But since my husband
:03:16. > :03:22.can't find work, I have to ask them to stay at home and find work. It
:03:22. > :03:26.pains me but what can I do? Sometimes it comes to a point where
:03:26. > :03:36.my husband and I fight, discussing the children's future. We do not
:03:36. > :03:39.
:03:39. > :03:42.have enough money for all of them to finish studies. Clarissa and her
:03:42. > :03:52.family are devout Catholics. Contraception is legal but most
:03:52. > :03:55.people have been brought up to believe that using it is a sin. But
:03:55. > :03:58.now, she, like many others, has begun to think the unthinkable.
:03:58. > :04:03.TRANSLATION: I used to believe in the Church's teachings about having
:04:03. > :04:10.lots of children. Now, I think we should have family planning.
:04:10. > :04:14.contraception is out of reach for many. Condoms are readily available
:04:14. > :04:17.but one packet costs more than families like this have to live on
:04:17. > :04:27.for one week. The government believes something has to change if
:04:27. > :04:30.the country is to advance. It has proposed legislation to provide
:04:30. > :04:40.free birth control and family planning advice to anybody who
:04:40. > :04:55.
:04:55. > :04:58.wants it. In this society, where Conservatism has held sway, the
:04:58. > :05:00.Reproductive Health Bill has caused an unholy row between politicians
:05:00. > :05:05.and priests. The Catholic Church remains incredibly powerful here.
:05:05. > :05:09.Abortion is illegal. This is the only country in the world where
:05:09. > :05:12.Catholics still cannot divorce. So the President's plan to introduce
:05:12. > :05:19.free contraception has put him on a collision course with the Church.
:05:19. > :05:29.More than 80% of the population are Catholic. And the Church has put
:05:29. > :05:47.
:05:47. > :05:50.its full weight behind efforts to prevent parliament passing the bill.
:05:50. > :05:53.Bishop Teodoro Bacani says the government is acting in defiance of
:05:53. > :05:56.the nation's wishes. When it comes to the Philippines, the majority
:05:56. > :06:02.are Catholics. The government will promote and fund an essential
:06:02. > :06:06.medicine, can you imagine? An essential medicine of birth control
:06:06. > :06:13.which is against the teaching of the Church and, we believe, against
:06:13. > :06:21.the natural law. Against the will of God. It is not the business of
:06:21. > :06:24.the government to be promoting contraceptive devices. It would be
:06:24. > :06:34.like the government passing a law which will fund the promotion pork
:06:34. > :06:44.eating amongst Muslims. Can you imagine the uproar there would be
:06:44. > :06:51.
:06:51. > :06:53.amongst the Muslim population? Church has mustered a huge
:06:53. > :06:59.publicity campaign and mass protest rallies to try to influence
:06:59. > :07:09.legislators to oppose the bill. It is a tactic that has worked before.
:07:09. > :07:12.This is the sixth time a bill like this has been put forward. Each
:07:12. > :07:22.previous versions have been seen off by the Church without even
:07:22. > :07:22.
:07:22. > :07:26.coming to a vote. We have an egg, we have a sperm, they meet together
:07:26. > :07:29.and then we have a fertilised egg or zygote. Is that fertilised egg
:07:29. > :07:32.already a human being? This time, reformers are more hopeful because
:07:32. > :07:35.the government has made the bill one of its main priorities. Those
:07:35. > :07:39.who are proposing the legislation say that, ultimately, they are
:07:39. > :07:43.fighting for the rights of Filipino women. The most controversial part
:07:43. > :07:46.of the bill says that no Filipinos should be denied information and
:07:46. > :07:49.access to family planning. That's all. And yet, in this united
:07:49. > :07:57.country, as if we were living in the Middle Ages, that is considered
:07:57. > :08:00.heresy. Why is there so much opposition to information? We just
:08:00. > :08:07.want the poor Filipino woman to know that family planning is
:08:07. > :08:17.available. There is no compulsion. Every single day, 11 mothers die
:08:17. > :08:20.
:08:20. > :08:23.from pregnancy and childbirth complications. This means some
:08:23. > :08:30.3,000-5,000 Filipinas die simply because they did not know about
:08:30. > :08:34.reproductive health measures or were not given access to facilities.
:08:34. > :08:37.Much of the debate, both inside and outside parliament, has centred on
:08:37. > :08:45.the question of exactly when life begins. This is the core message of
:08:45. > :08:52.the Church's campaign against the bill. It equates contraception with
:08:52. > :08:56.abortion, which is illegal under the Philippine's constitution.
:08:56. > :08:58.main objection is this - according to the bill, the government is
:08:58. > :09:08.going to fund and promote the distribution, as essential medicine,
:09:08. > :09:24.
:09:24. > :09:27.of contraceptive devices. In your view, are contraceptives like the
:09:27. > :09:30.pill, IUDs, exactly the same as abortion? Yes. There is absolutely
:09:30. > :09:33.no direct connection between contraception on the one hand and
:09:33. > :09:43.abortion on the other. Contraception means the use of a
:09:43. > :09:51.
:09:51. > :09:54.method to stop fertilisation. church said it is not opposed to
:09:54. > :09:57.family planning but it says the answer is what it calls natural
:09:57. > :10:00.contraception, such as the rhythm method and abstinence from sex.
:10:00. > :10:07.own proposal is this, and this should be effective, tell the
:10:07. > :10:17.Filipino people, we need you to be responsible parents. And
:10:17. > :10:19.
:10:19. > :10:22.responsible parenthood means planning your families. And
:10:23. > :10:26.planning your families means that you should try to bring into this
:10:26. > :10:36.world those children and only those children whom you can raise in a
:10:36. > :10:40.
:10:40. > :10:44.human and Christian way. If the Church and the government and the
:10:44. > :10:47.NGOs all deliver that message, you will see that there will not be
:10:47. > :10:53.this problem of the poor even reproducing much more. It has no
:10:53. > :11:03.relation to reality. These bishops have not even been married. They do
:11:03. > :11:04.
:11:04. > :11:14.not know what sexual urges do. To claim exclusivity or monopoly on
:11:14. > :11:17.knowledge is always a dangerous situation. Almost one-third of the
:11:17. > :11:27.Philippine population live on less than $1 a day, according to
:11:27. > :11:33.
:11:33. > :11:37.government figures. Supporters of the Reproductive Health Bill say
:11:37. > :11:40.its success is a vital step in reducing the numbers living in
:11:40. > :11:44.poverty. What do you think the consequences would be for the
:11:44. > :11:46.country if the bill does not pass? First, we will be the joke of the
:11:46. > :11:51.international community. The Philippines will sound very much
:11:51. > :12:01.like it is still in the Dark Ages. Is the Philippines out of step with
:12:01. > :12:21.
:12:21. > :12:25.the rest of the world? Yes. And happily we are. The Philippines has
:12:25. > :12:34.the highest birthrate in South East Asia and its health system is
:12:35. > :12:38.struggling to cope. Supporters of the bill say you just need to come
:12:38. > :12:42.to places like this to see why it is so urgently needed. There are
:12:42. > :12:52.often two or even three mothers to every bed here in this maternity
:12:52. > :12:55.
:12:55. > :13:02.ward. Because there are so many patients in two beds, for example,
:13:02. > :13:11.they just lie down alternating. One will sit, the other will lie down.
:13:11. > :13:16.TRANSLATION: At first there were only two of us but now I have to
:13:16. > :13:22.share with another two women. 36-year-old woman cradles her ninth
:13:22. > :13:30.child. She is a practising Catholic but she is daunted by what lies
:13:30. > :13:34.ahead. TRANSLATION: No. I do not have enough money to take care of
:13:34. > :13:41.the nine children. What is life like for you with so many children?
:13:41. > :13:51.TRANSLATION: I feel happy but I know it will be hard. Did you want
:13:51. > :13:56.
:13:56. > :14:01.I only wanted four kids. Meals are basic. But it is still much better
:14:01. > :14:08.than any care these new mothers received before they were admitted.
:14:08. > :14:13.Many were not able to see a doctor at all before giving birth. You see
:14:13. > :14:20.women dying because they do not have any medical care. They don't
:14:20. > :14:26.even know their blood pressure is high. For the President of the
:14:26. > :14:29.Philippines, it is a national disgrace that this situation exists.
:14:29. > :14:37.He is the first president to publicly endorse the reproductive
:14:37. > :14:41.health bill. I keep saying, this is not a fight against the church.
:14:41. > :14:44.This is an attempt to address a situation that exists where 40% of
:14:44. > :14:47.the population never get to see health professionals and 20% of the
:14:47. > :14:57.population live below the poverty line, there are 140,000 classrooms
:14:57. > :15:13.
:15:13. > :15:20.needed. I could go on. They spend more on cellphones than they would
:15:20. > :15:23.on birth control. Although the debate is deeply polarised, those
:15:23. > :15:31.advocating free contraception said they do not see it as a stepping
:15:31. > :15:39.stone to even more radical reform. Do you think the Philippines will
:15:39. > :15:43.ever allow abortion? I don't think so. Not in my lifetime at least.
:15:43. > :15:53.There is a very strong prejudice against the taking of life in a
:15:53. > :15:59.
:15:59. > :16:02.Filipino culture. While abortion is illegal and likely to remain so,
:16:02. > :16:11.many hundreds of women take huge risks to end unwanted pregnancies
:16:11. > :16:16.each year. This woman almost died after buying a drink from a market
:16:16. > :16:23.on the promise it would make her miscarry. We have concealed her
:16:23. > :16:30.identity at her request. TRANSLATION: I am a Catholic, but
:16:30. > :16:35.not practising. That is why I was able to do something. Soon after
:16:35. > :16:40.drinking the potion, things started to go very wrong. TRANSLATION: When
:16:40. > :16:44.I got home I had lost lots of blood. I used all the blankets and towels
:16:45. > :16:50.to stop the blood but it did not help. My mother took me to hospital.
:16:50. > :16:54.We went to two hospitals that did not want to admit me. At the third
:16:54. > :16:57.I passed out and they took me in and operated on me and took the
:16:57. > :17:04.foetus out. In this country, abortion is illegal and you're
:17:04. > :17:11.taking a big risk to do that. Were you aware of the risk? TRANSLATION:
:17:11. > :17:16.It was a very hard decision to do that. At the time, I was being
:17:16. > :17:26.battered by my husband. My children were also. I did not want another
:17:26. > :17:36.child to go through that. After her ordeal, a charity provided her with
:17:36. > :17:47.
:17:47. > :17:50.contraception which she could not otherwise have afforded. It meant
:17:50. > :17:53.continuing to disobey the church's teachings. TRANSLATION: I do not
:17:53. > :18:03.believe what the Church says about family planning. Contraception
:18:03. > :18:11.
:18:11. > :18:13.really helps us. If I did not use it, I would have 16 children by now.
:18:13. > :18:18.Even though abortion is illegal, there are some extraordinary
:18:18. > :18:22.contradictions in Philippine attitudes. We are outside one of
:18:22. > :18:25.the main churches and the vendors are selling religious icons. But
:18:25. > :18:35.there are also very openly selling home-made concoctions to end
:18:35. > :18:35.
:18:35. > :18:43.pregnancies. The name means to menstruate. The label says it helps
:18:43. > :18:49.women who have not had a period for one to two months. It helps to cure
:18:49. > :18:59.what they euphemistically call "delay". What does this do? What is
:18:59. > :19:03.
:19:04. > :19:11.it for? Is this for women? Yes. stop pregnancy? Yes. Isn't that
:19:11. > :19:20.dangerous? No side-effects. Soon, we were joined by the boss of the
:19:20. > :19:30.operation. What is it made from? From roots of a tree, from ash.
:19:30. > :19:33.
:19:33. > :19:38.that dangerous? No. No side-effects. And you're sure it is safe? Yes.
:19:38. > :19:48.The woman soon decides to change her story. She insists it is an
:19:48. > :19:49.
:19:49. > :19:59.anti-ulcer medicine. I have tested it. I have four kids. Then I had an
:19:59. > :19:59.
:20:00. > :20:02.unexpected pregnancy. I used it but it did not work. But it is a bit
:20:02. > :20:12.strange, the fact you're selling these things and your neighbours
:20:12. > :20:13.
:20:13. > :20:17.are selling these things right outside a church. No. These
:20:17. > :20:24.concoctions are illegal. These posters warn people of the tough
:20:24. > :20:26.penalties for selling them. It has to be of concern that women with
:20:26. > :20:29.unwanted pregnancies are resorting to unregulated black-market
:20:29. > :20:39.products that at best are ineffectual and at worst may kill
:20:39. > :20:49.
:20:49. > :20:52.them. Less than 100 metres away, the faithful are at prayer. The
:20:52. > :21:02.Church has an unusual ally in its attempt to deliver a knockout blow
:21:02. > :21:05.
:21:05. > :21:09.to the reproductive health bill. This is arguably the most famous
:21:09. > :21:14.and most loved Filipino in the world. An international boxing
:21:14. > :21:17.champion eight times over. He has used his sporting success to win
:21:17. > :21:27.election to Congress and now has thrown his weight behind the
:21:27. > :21:28.
:21:28. > :21:32.church's campaign. TRANSLATION: If we believe in God, we should follow
:21:32. > :21:42.what he tells us. There are laws being passed in Congress which are
:21:42. > :21:44.
:21:44. > :21:47.against the will of God. But the Church's publicity coup backfired
:21:47. > :21:57.when shortly after he made the comments, his wife revealed that
:21:57. > :21:59.
:21:59. > :22:04.she had been using the pill because she did not want any more children.
:22:04. > :22:07.It is not clear what the result of all this lobbying will be. Both
:22:08. > :22:13.sides have been here many times before and there have been no
:22:13. > :22:23.definite results. Why do you think that this Bill has been put forward
:22:23. > :22:24.
:22:24. > :22:29.five times and has never succeeded? Because the fear of the Catholic
:22:29. > :22:32.vote. It has never been proven that there is such a thing as a Catholic
:22:32. > :22:40.vote' and yet this thing still continues to haunt every single
:22:40. > :22:42.member of the Philippine Congress. They are afraid that in the next
:22:42. > :22:52.election, if they vote for the Reproductive Health Bill, they
:22:52. > :22:54.
:22:54. > :22:58.might lose. If the Bill is passed, the Church has no intention of that
:22:58. > :23:01.being an end to the matter. It intends to challenge the verdict in
:23:01. > :23:09.the Philippine Supreme Court and the bishops insist it is the
:23:09. > :23:15.politicians, not Catholic values, that are holding the country back.
:23:15. > :23:23.The greater cause of poverty in the Philippines is corruption. Secondly,
:23:23. > :23:26.this government, the lack of good government. Our population problem
:23:26. > :23:36.is not that there are too many Philippines, but that they are not
:23:36. > :23:38.
:23:38. > :23:41.distributed well. Neither is the wealth. As the nation grapples with
:23:41. > :23:49.questions of belief and conscience, who will back down first? The
:23:49. > :23:54.Church or the state? How far are you prepared to push it? What is
:23:54. > :23:58.the alternative? Should I keep quiet? I was brought up a Catholic
:23:58. > :24:04.and we are taught that when we're called before the Almighty, we will
:24:04. > :24:14.be asked, what we have done to help our brethren? I could not in good
:24:14. > :24:29.
:24:29. > :24:36.conscience allow the status quo to continue. Today, this woman can
:24:36. > :24:39.afford to send some of her children to school for the afternoon. It
:24:39. > :24:45.will not be long before their education is interrupted again to
:24:45. > :24:49.help earn money for the family to survive. It is a hard life and one
:24:49. > :24:55.which she hopes her children will not have to endure forever.
:24:55. > :24:59.Meanwhile, the Church's sermons have begun to grate. TRANSLATION: I
:24:59. > :25:03.would ask the priests if they're going to help us if we have this
:25:03. > :25:07.many children, will you help feed our family and bring them to