Debate heats up over new Philippines health bill - 11 Nov 09

Legislators in the Philippines, one of the few countries in the world without a reproductive health bill, are debating a new law that will promote family planning to ease financial burden on poor families.

But the issue of contraception is divisive in the predominantly-Catholic country where abortion is illegal and other methods of contraception are only available to those who can afford it.

Debate over the controversial bill is now threatening to turn into a major battle between church and state, as Al Jazeera's Divya Gopalan reports.