Filipino teenage pregnancy a ‘national social emergency’

Teenage pregnancy has become a “national social emergency” in the Philippines with adolescent birth rates in the past 10 years meriting “national concern, ” according to the country’s top socioeconomic planning official. 

As a result, families could be condemned to a perpetual “intergenerational poverty,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said.

The most recent National Demographic Health Survey revealed that nine percent of Filipino women aged between 15 and 19 are falling pregnant.

“I join the voices of adults putting a spotlight on the issue of teen pregnancy by calling on the passage of a policy to address this critical issue,” Pernia said.

A bill titled the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act has been filed in the Senate.

The proposed law aims to address the rise in adolescent birth rates through “proper information for our youth” and “access to relevant reproductive health services.”

Under the bill, the government would launch a comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality education to better inform young Filipinos and parents alike about sex, gender and reproductive health issues.

The proposal also mandates more social protection programs for teenage mothers such as accessible maternal health services, workshops and livelihood programs.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila acknowledged the issue of teenage pregnancy during a dialogue with young people in June.

He stressed the role of parents in educating their children on sexuality instead of relying on popular and social media.

“Children do not fully understand the holistic issue of sexuality,” said the cardinal, adding that sexuality is “not just a physical need but it has its consequences.”

Cardinal Tagle noted that while children these days are exposed to a lot of information via the media, “they lack the necessary guidance.”

A Commission on Population report released last month noted that about 500 teenage girls give birth every day while about 200,000 girls get pregnant every year.

Government data also showed that at least 57 percent of female students had been forced to drop out of school due to “family matters,” including teenage pregnancy and early marriage.

Government health officials have in the past blamed church leaders for the rise in teenage pregnancy supposedly because of the objection to contraception.

Father Melvin Castro, former executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, however, said the exposure of the young to contraceptive use is to blame. He said contraceptives give young people a false sense of security that they could engage in intimacy without getting pregnant.

“We give them reason to be promiscuous,” Father Castro said in an earlier interview.

“The more we expose the young to contraceptive use in the name of responsible sex, the more they are exposed to sexual intimacy outside of the context of morality. We should not be surprised by the steady high incidence of teenage pregnancy.” 

The priest said one way of addressing the problem is to educate young people on the morals of sexual intimacy “that it is within the context of marriage, not before nor outside of marriage.”

Marielle Lucenio contributed to this report.