How women in the Philippines are facing their own version of the Hobby Lobby battle

Nearly a year ago I posted about the struggle for reproductive rights in the Philippines and how the government-proposed legislation to provide contraception was met with unrelenting opposition from the Catholic church (see http://ncronline.org/blogs/grace-margins/contraception-philippines-and-pope-francis-passion-poor).

Nevertheless, the government did pass this legislation, albeit with “moral or religious exemptions”. That set the stage for a battle not unlike that women here in the U.S. are facing with the Hobby Lobby decision and the church takeover of so many hospitals. In a country like the Philippines that’s 80% Catholic, encouraging medical workers to reject the birth control law will certainly have devastating consequences for Filipino women, especially poor women and their families.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/philippines-catholic/1252960.html
Philippines' Catholic medics urged not to issue birth control
The Catholic Church in the Philippines is encouraging members who are medical workers to refuse to implement a newly-approved birth control law, an official said on Thursday.

MANILA: The Catholic Church in the Philippines is encouraging members who are medical workers to refuse to implement a newly-approved birth control law, an official said on Thursday.
It is the latest move by the powerful church hierarchy in the largely Catholic Philippines against a law that took effect this year, compelling the state for the first time to provide free condoms and contraceptive pills…"But if circumstances compelled them to be employed in such agencies... said Catholics should be aware that they cannot be forced to promote, distribute or dispense artificial contraceptives against their religious or moral conviction."…
The deeply controversial birth control law was finally approved by the Supreme Court in April, ending a 15-year campaign by the Church to stop state-sanctioned family planning coming into force. It also mandates that sex education be taught in schools.
However, the law allows for moral or religious objections. Conscientious objectors are required to immediately refer patients to another service willing to supply information or birth control, but the church disputes this….

Just how far–reaching might this rejection of the birth control law become?

(Catholic Reporter)
Philippine bishops remind Catholic health workers of right to object

MANILA, Philippines (CNS) -- The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has reminded Catholic health care workers they have the right to object to dispensing contraceptives. In posting the "Pastoral Guidance on the Implementation of the Reproductive Health Law," Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, conference president, said it was the bishops' pastoral duty to give the "necessary information and instruction" to Catholic physicians, nurses and other medical workers as well as Catholic public servants. Implementation of the law was put on hold for a year because it faced multiple challenges in the Philippine Supreme Court, mainly from Catholic pro-life groups. The law calls for government-funded contraception and family planning advice for the needy, sex education for middle- through high-school students and mandatory medical care for a woman after she has had an abortion, which is illegal in the Philippines. It originally compelled all health workers to comply with the provisions regardless of their religious beliefs. The pastoral guidance, posted on the bishops' website, highlighted an April Philippine Supreme Court ruling with 15 points that support a conscientious objector's rights and uphold the protection of the family.

I have no data regarding the percentage of health care workers in the Philippines who are Catholic nor how many clinics and hospitals are operated by the church, but the implications are omninous. In a country where abortion and divorce are outlawed on religious grounds, the government’s new laws for women’s health care and reproductive rights are in jeopardy of becoming meaningless, thanks to clauses for “moral and religious exemptions.” Sound familiar? Thought it couldn’t happen here?
Whether or not the religious campaign to gut women’s reproductive rights found its testing ground in the Philippines or in the U.S., the strategy is basically the same and with the same intended result. This is a global battle being faced by our sisters around the globe. We cannot fail them now.

Also see:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/philippines-catholic/1252960.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26938667