MANILA – Lawmakers drew up the final version of a landmark birth control bill yesterday that is likely to be signed into law by President Benigno Aquino despite bitter opposition from the Catholic Church.

The bill which would make sex education and contraceptives more widely available to the poor was passed by both houses of parliament this week after being blocked for more than a decade by the politically influential Church.

The bill's final version, likely to be approved by both houses before being sent to Aquino, retained key provisions that would empower women and allow "couples to freely and responsibly determine the number and spacing of their children", said Edcel Lagman, who initiated the legislation.

It is expected to be signed into law by Aquino before Christmas.

But Church leaders in the Catholic-majority nation have pledged to continue their fight against the measure, with an appeal to the Supreme Court and a campaign to oust its supporters in general elections next year.

Aquino has been pushing for the law, which its proponents say will help moderate the nation's rapid population growth, reduce poverty and bring down its high maternal mortality rate.

Aquino's spokesman Ramon Carandang said the president respected the Church's opinion, but stressed: "For us, the debate is over."

The Philippines has one of Asia's highest birth rates, with the United Nations estimating that half of the nation's 3.4 million pregnancies each year are unplanned.

The government's Commission on Women said that maternal mortality also remains woefully high, with 162 deaths for every 100,000 live births, while 10 women die every day from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications.*AFP

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