UN applies pressure on Noy for RH enactment

UN applies pressure on Noy for RH enactment

• Written by  Fernan J. Angeles
• Monday, 06 August 2012 

The pressure is mounting on President Aquino from opposite sides over the Reproductive Health (RH) bill as the United Nations warned yesterday that failure to pass the birth control law could reverse gains in development goals a day after the powerful Catholic Church flexed its muscles through a massive rally against the measure that goes to a vote tomorrow.

The bill seeks to make it mandatory for the government to provide free contraceptives in a country where more than 80 percent of the population is Catholic and which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Southeast Asia.

Ugochi Daniels, country representative from the UN Population Fund, said she remained “cautiously optimistic” that President Aquino’s allies who dominate the House of Representatives could muster the numbers to pass the bill on Tuesday after 14 years of often divisive debate.

“What is important now is to highlight the urgency of the bill,” Daniels said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/headlines/item/2551-un-applies-pressure-on-noy-for-rh-enactment