By Eloisa Lopez
The government stresses the need for a reproductive health program over an alarming UN report that pregnancy is most common among teens in the Philippines.
The report, released at ABS CBN new.com, said the Philippines now ranks first among ASEAN’s (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) 6 major economies in teenage pregnancy with a rate of 53 in every 1,000 women aged 15 to 19.
Data showed the country not only has the highest teen pregnancy rate...
The government stresses the need for a reproductive health program over an alarming UN report that pregnancy is most common among teens in the Philippines.
The report, released at ABS CBN new.com, said the Philippines now ranks first among ASEAN’s (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) 6 major economies in teenage pregnancy with a rate of 53 in every 1,000 women aged 15 to 19.
Data showed the country not only has the highest teen pregnancy rate...
in the ASEAN region, but is the only country where the pregnancy rate is increasing.
Between 2000 and 2010, the number of women aged between 15 and 19 giving birth each year more than doubled to over 206,500. Over the same period, the annual number of mothers under 14 years old also jumped from 755 in 2000 to more than 1,300 in 2010.
Perci Cendaña, a member of the National Youth Commission (NYC), said in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the huge rise in teenage pregnancies was due to a complex set of issues reflective of a changing Philippines society.
According to the NYC's own National Youth Assessment Study, unplanned pregnancy is one of the main reasons teenagers stop going to school.
Young people were being bombarded by information on sex particularly via the internet, and parental guidance was often missing.
“More parents are going abroad for work, leaving behind their children who become vulnerable to peer group pressure,” said Cendaña.
A TV program (TV Patrol) in ABS-CBN also recently discussed this trend and featured young men who already have their first-borns. Among those interviewed was a man aged 15 who is forced to work as a fisherman at a daily wage of 300 pesos in order to feed his partner and daughter.
Is the RH Law really the solution?
The National Youth Commission blames the rise in teen pregnancies to the lack of a proper sexual education and is convinced that the problem will be addressed by the recently passed law, the Reproductive Health Law popularly known as the RH Law.
Many say this is obvious evidence supporting the Reproductive Health law that calls for sexuality education among young students. With regulated sexuality education, the young are informed about sex, pregnancy, unplanned and planned, instead of through the internet or pornographic magazines that somehow manage to reach them.
But is it really the solution? To opponents of the RH law, it appears to be a long process, but admits that it is indeed one of the more possible solutions that can be taken.
The RH law focuses mostly on responsible parenthood and part of that duty is to make sure that would-be parents are aware of the sociological and health risks they are taking.
Sex education and counseling
If teens who can afford to be in school can have sex education and counseling, it may seem appropriate to assume that those out-of-school youths need more focus regarding this issue.
Members of this group have more free time for social interaction and thus, more chances at sexual encounters. Most of them live in depressed communities and are therefore situated in families where parents are more focused on how to earn a living rather than on giving their children counseling about sex.
It is therefore crucial to have both sex education and direct counseling towards the youth especially those who have no access to formal education.
Between 2000 and 2010, the number of women aged between 15 and 19 giving birth each year more than doubled to over 206,500. Over the same period, the annual number of mothers under 14 years old also jumped from 755 in 2000 to more than 1,300 in 2010.
Perci Cendaña, a member of the National Youth Commission (NYC), said in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the huge rise in teenage pregnancies was due to a complex set of issues reflective of a changing Philippines society.
According to the NYC's own National Youth Assessment Study, unplanned pregnancy is one of the main reasons teenagers stop going to school.
Young people were being bombarded by information on sex particularly via the internet, and parental guidance was often missing.
“More parents are going abroad for work, leaving behind their children who become vulnerable to peer group pressure,” said Cendaña.
A TV program (TV Patrol) in ABS-CBN also recently discussed this trend and featured young men who already have their first-borns. Among those interviewed was a man aged 15 who is forced to work as a fisherman at a daily wage of 300 pesos in order to feed his partner and daughter.
Is the RH Law really the solution?
The National Youth Commission blames the rise in teen pregnancies to the lack of a proper sexual education and is convinced that the problem will be addressed by the recently passed law, the Reproductive Health Law popularly known as the RH Law.
Many say this is obvious evidence supporting the Reproductive Health law that calls for sexuality education among young students. With regulated sexuality education, the young are informed about sex, pregnancy, unplanned and planned, instead of through the internet or pornographic magazines that somehow manage to reach them.
But is it really the solution? To opponents of the RH law, it appears to be a long process, but admits that it is indeed one of the more possible solutions that can be taken.
The RH law focuses mostly on responsible parenthood and part of that duty is to make sure that would-be parents are aware of the sociological and health risks they are taking.
Sex education and counseling
If teens who can afford to be in school can have sex education and counseling, it may seem appropriate to assume that those out-of-school youths need more focus regarding this issue.
Members of this group have more free time for social interaction and thus, more chances at sexual encounters. Most of them live in depressed communities and are therefore situated in families where parents are more focused on how to earn a living rather than on giving their children counseling about sex.
It is therefore crucial to have both sex education and direct counseling towards the youth especially those who have no access to formal education.
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