Various women's groups held a Women's Caravan Thursday to demand the Roman Catholic Church leadership in the Philippines to allow them the right of "informed choice" in choosing birth control. The Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) spokesman Monsignor Pedro Quitorio III met with the group.

The women called on the Catholic Church to ease its pressure on the government to adhere to only one method of family planning, adding that despite the separation between church and state, the CBCP remains an influential lobbying group in favor of only natural birth control, such as abstinence

A vote to determine whether or not to ease the abortion laws in Portugal was favorable on Sunday, as 60 percent of the Portuguese electorate voted "yes," according to The Portugal News. However, about 57 percent of the Portuguese failed to vote at all.

Since only more than half of all Portuguese failed to vote in the referendum, the final decision on the vote must now be passed by Parliament

For all the couples planning to conceive on Valentine's Day doctors say the best way to go about is to give-up smoking to increase fertility. The maternity figures taken from the U.K.'s Office of National Statistics say February is the most popular month to conceive, and consequently, the most babies are born nine months later in October.

Keeping these facts in mind, the Bath and North East Somerset Support to Stop Smoking Service has advised prospective parents to quit smoking as it hampers both male and female fertility

Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order on Friday to require all middle school girls entering 6th grade (aged 11 and 12) in Texas to receive the new HPV (sexually transmitted disease) vaccination. The vaccination claims to prevent the disease, which can cause cervical cancer.

Perry claims that authorizing this HPV vaccine is no different than past legislation that requires all children to have the polio vaccine, according to CNN

Beginning September 2008, all schoolgirls in Texas would be required to get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. The order was passed Friday by Republican Gov. Rick Perry thus making Texas the first state to pass such an order amid criticism by conservatives and parents.

The anti-supporters of the vaccination program in Legislation fear such a requirement would forgive premarital sex and interfere with the ethics and morals of the children