THE Reproductive Health (RH) bill issue has turned into a virtual "religious war" after the influential Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) and other religious groups expressed support behind the controversial piece of legislation.

The INC, which has about six million members and is known to vote as a bloc, said it is "ready to support the bill on reproductive health as long as there are no immoral elements in them."

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), for its part, has strongly opposed the bill despite reports that some of its members are secretly supporting the measure.

In a letter sent by Eduardo Manalo, INC executive minister, to the House committee on population and family relations, he said that the congregation is supporting only the artificial methods of contraception, not the natural family planning methods, which he calls "unnatural and ineffective."

"Since modern methods of contraception by preventing married couples from having any unplanned pregnancies, assist in supporting the Christian principle, we support their use as long as these methods are empirically not abortifacient," the INC letter said.

Manalo stressed that his group "does not support the natural family planning method and all its variants."

He explained that these so-called birth control methods "depend upon abstinence on the part of the married couple when the woman is fertile but allows marital relations only when she is not."

"These methods are not only unnatural and ineffective but they are also immoral, since they contradict the commandments that God has given to married couples," he noted.

"The Bible instructs married couples not to deprive one another of intimate marital relations for long, extended periods of time. Any abstinence at all for a married couple is supposed to be with mutual consent of husband and wife and not for purpose of preventing pregnancy," he added.

Among the provisions of House Bill 4244 or the "Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development" bill are the freedom of informed choice; absence of demographic or population target; poverty reduction; voluntary family planning based on freedom of informed choice; promotion of all kinds of family planning methods that are legal, medically safe, effective, and accessible; and prohibition of abortion.

President Benigno S. Aquino III earlier said he would go by what his conscience dictates and stand by the responsible parenthood bill that Malacanang is drafting, regardless of who is against it.

"Buo ang loob ko na maisabatas ang prinsipyo ng responsible parenthood. Mulat ako na may mga tutol dito. Subalit obligasyon ko bilang pinuno na lumapit sa lahat ng sektor, para kausapin at magpaliwanag sa kanila nang mahinahon, kahit pa ang sabi ng iba’y dapat i-excommunicate na ako," he said.

"Kailangan po nating pakinggan maski na ang mga taong sa pananaw ng marami ay sarado na ang isipan. Pero sa huli, kailangan kong mag-desisyon. Kailangan ko pa ring sundin ang aking kunsensiya. Kailangan kong gawin ang tama," he added.

Deliberations on the controversial measure will continue as Congress resumes session on May 9.