MANILA, Philippines (AP) — An American woman has accused a Philippine senator of plagiarizing her blog during an acrimonious debate on a contraceptives bill that has divided the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

Philippines Contraceptives

Philippine congressmen attend a session at the House of Representatives, in suburban Quezon City, north of Manila, Philippines on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012, Pic: AP.

Sen. Vicente Sotto III denied using part of Sarah Pope’s blog when he argued against the bill to distribute contraceptives in government-run health clinics.

But after Pope called Sotto a “lying thief’ in her blog on Thursday, the senator’s chief of staff, Hector Villacorta, acknowledged that they had used her blog without attribution.

Sotto, however, is denying the plagiarism allegation, saying both he and Pope cite the same source, a Russian-born physician who claims that contraceptives cause an imbalance between good and bad bacteria in the intestines.

The debate pits the reformist government against conservatives who consider artificial contraception as abortion.