Teenage Pregnancy Issue in the Philippines
Teenage pregnancy, or adolescent pregnancy, is a widespread issue that poses numerous challenges for young mothers. The difficulties faced by pregnant teenagers include dealing with the possibility of termination (particularly in countries where abortion is illegal), confronting parents about the pregnancy, and finding resources for prenatal care and raising a child without financial support. In this context, it is imperative for government officials to take action and address this issue with effective solutions. The aim of this argumentative essay about teenage pregnancy is to explore the problem from various perspectives and critically analyze the proposed solutions to address this complex issue.
The Philippines has recorded a 7% increase in births among adolescent girls aged 15 and below in 2019, The Commission on Population and Development announced over that the number of teenage births has increased since 2018. The Commission on Population (Popcom) quoted the new data from the Philippine Statistics Authority in a statement on Sunday, stating that the number of Filipino minors who gave birth in 2019 increased to 62,510 from 62,341 in 2018. Though numbers in Metro Manila have decreased, the case of a 10-year-old giving birth should “sound the alarm for all local government units to harmonize their efforts for stronger and better policies on adolescent reproductive health,” according to Popcom regional director Lydio Espaol Jr.
“Not only has the pandemic made it more difficult to obtain prenatal and other maternal care, but it has also made it more difficult to obtain family planning services, which are critical in preventing early pregnancies,” Espaol stated. Teenage pregnancies in the Philippines may rise by 18,000 due to a shortage of facilities during lockdowns caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, according to the Population Institute of the University of the Philippines and the United Nations Population Fund.
Although family planning is vital for families, it would be useless if family planning services were the hot issue. The issue more rampant and relevant to discuss would be the lacking government intervention on the availability of contraceptives and Sex Education in school institutions. With the rise of infant mortality, pregnancy-related deaths, and a rise in HIV/AIDS cases in the Philippines, the previous administration saw it fit to finally uphold a law that aims to solve the aforementioned health-related problems.
Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012
In 2012, Benigno Aquino Jr. signed into law the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RH) Act which integrated sexual school curriculum for students ages ten to nineteen. This law also subsidized government-subsidized contraceptives at health care centers and public schools as well as gave the poor and the informal sector access to reproductive health information and services. Low awareness about reproductive health is strongly affected by poverty, specifically when it comes to overpopulation. As a result, the RH Act focuses on assisting the general public in making responsible reproductive health choices. It ensures that the Philippine government reaffirms its commitment to protecting women's reproductive rights, providing open family planning material, and recruiting qualified maternal health professionals to work in both urban and rural parts of the Philippines, among many other things.
However, is this act a temporary fix to the country’s issues that have not been fixed? According to the Philippine News Agency, the World Bank's most recent survey indicated that the Philippines' poverty rate dropped to 19.8% in 2020 and 18.7% in 2021. With reduced private consumption due to the quarantine restrictions brought by the Coronavirus-19 and spending anticipated for the rest of the year and concerns regarding the global economic recovery, the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2020 Update forecasts a stronger decline in the Philippines' economy. To add to that, almost 4.5 million Filipinos have lost their jobs in 2020 with blue-collar jobs at the brink of bankruptcy and white-collar jobs having to let go of employees due to the lack of digital resources. Because of these main focuses of the local government units, do they still have time to provide reproductive health information and free contraceptives to those who require it?
Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2020
The UP Population Institute also predicts a boom in teenage pregnancies in 2021 due to the pandemic. Senator Risa Hontiveros, current senate committee chairwoman on Women, Children, Family Relations, and gender equality, argues that expecting a boom of teenage pregnancies isn’t the problem; she explains that these pregnancies are mostly caused by unplanned teenage pregnancies. This is truly alarming. And to add to that, hospitals are already overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients over capacitating hospitals and exhausting our healthcare workers already, it would be unethical and unfair if we exhaust these healthcare centers with tons of unwanted pregnancies.
In recent news, Senator Risa Hontiveros filed Senate Bill No. 1134, or the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2020 which aims to make comprehensive sexual education mandatory in schools and normalize discussions about adolescent sexuality and reproductive health removing the stigma and contraceptive use and the prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI). The main difference of this bill with the RH law would be the inclusion of more vast topics such as effective contraceptive use, disease prevention, gender equality and equity, sexual violence, among many others. And lastly, this bill also allows for the social protection of these adolescent moms – providing them with financial assistance to finish their schooling, find decent jobs, and establish a healthy livelihood for the safety of their future children.
“If the increase of the teenage pregnancies cases will not be resolved, it will add more burden to our health-care system, our economy and in the long run, our plans for the next generation,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros, sponsor of the Senate Bill No. 1334, or the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Preventing Bill said.
A Stagnant Culture That Does Not Allow Open-Mindedness
Although the proposed bill by Senator Risa Hontiveros is a stepping stone to the million movements of the government and the Philippine nation to solving teenage pregnancies, there is a long way to go in embracing a liberal and open mindset towards sexual health and development. Bringing into the controversial phrase “_____ still exists? It’s 2021!”, close-mindedness regarding topics of sexual education is still prevalent, especially in the catholic/sacred community. Approximately 80 percent of the total population of the Philippines is classified as Roman Catholic. Correspondingly, the Catholic Church has a major impact on the state of sex education in the region, and the community in general. The Catholic Church forbids sex outside marriage and fears that sex education would improve sexual intercourse. As a result, the Catholic Church is dismissive of the RH Act, raising the difficulty of implementing the RH Act.
Also, the Catholic Church condemns the implementation of comprehensive sex education and the dissemination of contraception. The Church prefers to focus on parents to educate their children about sexual health. However, many families are either incompetent to do so or may not discuss the issue directly with their children. Even though we cannot blame the Spanish occupation for the close-mindedness and the reliance on sacred scriptures that dictate their way of life, their influence is much to credit for the close-minded behavior of the Filipinos in the past and during the presentation.
Availability of Contraceptives
The London Summit on Family Planning was held in 2012 to set global targets for improving the quality and availability of contraception information and services. Over the last five years, nations have made significant progress in expanding access to voluntary family planning programs. In 2016, 300 million women and girls in 69 developing countries used modern contraception. With this, developing countries must emulate first-world country’s strategies to increase the contraception rate and birth control – not only to prevent unwanted pregnancies but to create a safer and more accepting society where premarital sex is not considered taboo anymore.
In a 2012 report, more than 1,000 females were surveyed to identify reasons that contribute not to the use of contraceptives. Almost half of those surveyed had been engaged in unprotected sex in the previous three months. These women have given three main reasons for not using contraceptives: difficulty in accessing birth control (the most common reason), lack of desire to have sex, and the belief that they could not get pregnant. In other cases where contraception is used but inadequate, sometimes the issue that needs to be corrected is the beliefs and misconceptions by the main victims of the ignorance. Inexperienced teenagers may use condoms wrongly, refuse to take oral contraceptives, or neglect to use the contraceptives they have previously selected. Contraceptive failure rates are higher for adolescents, particularly poor, than for older people. With this set of problems, governments and social institutions must recognize that there are more milestones, trials, and many more errors in the system before teen pregnancy is finally reduced; but that all starts with being informed of the problem and taking action to provide and meet the solutions.
Conclusion
To conclude this teenage pregnancy argumentative essay, there is a need for more health professionals, more hospitals, more birth control facilities, more supportive strategies, and a stronger drive and more open discussion for family planning to build happy families of the size that is right for just about any couple. Sex education will remain a disputed issue in the Philippines. However, this is an evolving issue that is likely to change with ongoing discussions between government, faith, and non-governmental institutions.
