Citizens from low-income communities in the Philippines filed suit last week against the Mayor of Manila over the citys eight year ban on contraceptives. They asked the appeals court to repeal the local law baring access to condoms and pills from local clinics, reports Reuters.
“This ban is yet another abhorrent example of a larger global trend lead by religiously motivated policymakers who adopt policies based on ideology instead of the health and well-being of the very people they are elected to serve,” said Melissa Upreti, senior legal advisor for Asia at the Center for Reproductive Rights in a press release.
The plaintiffs are arguing that the eight year ban on contraception has “severely and irreparably damaged their lives and health and the majority of women in Manila,” according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Reuters reports that an estimated that half 500,000 women have abortions despite the ban on the procedure, and many of those women die as result of back alley abortions conducted by untrained nurses.
