Thousands of Filipino women protest for reproductive health care

Mar 8, 2011, 9:11 GMT

Manila - Thousands of women took to the streets Tuesday in the Philippines to call on legislators to pass a draft law aimed at boosting maternal health care.

More than 6,000 women gathered near the House of Representatives building to urge lawmakers to pass the bill aimed at giving poor women more access to artificial birth control and better maternal health care.

Elizabeth Angsioco, chairwoman of the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines, said the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill would help prevent the deaths of 11 women daily from complications from pregnancy or child birth.

Angsioco said 'so many lives have been wasted' while waiting for the bill to be passed amid strong opposition from the Catholic Church, which alleges that the proposed law would promote promiscuity and destroy public morals.

'As we commemorate [International] Women's Day, we demand accountability from our lawmakers,' she said. 'Your responsibility is to see to it that bills are properly processed, not blocked.'

The demonstrators also called on the government to improve 'the prevailing dismal condition of women' in the Philippines.

'Women are suffering from multiple blows as costs of food, oil, public transportation, utilities and other basic necessities keep on rising,' said Lana Linaban, secretary general of the women's group Gabriela.

Linaban led about 4,000 women in a separate march to the presidential palace to urge President Benigno Aquino III to take steps to improve the living conditions of women in the country.

'Filipino women are still shackled with oppression as hunger and violence continue to threaten them,' she said.

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