'Pills' is most used contraceptive here

The pill is the most commonly used contraceptive in Cebu City with users said to be at least 11 to 15 percent of the reproductive age group, this according to the Population Commission.

Popcom regional director Leo Rama said that aside from contraceptive pills, ligation and intra-uterine devices are also widely used.

Despite opposition of the Roman Catholic Church, Rama said, that the acceptance of family planning methods in Cebu is high with at least 99 percent of Cebuanos approving of the program.

"It is not true that what we have introduced have negative effects to the users. What is dangerous is unplanned pregnancy which oftentimes results to abortion," Rama said.

Further, he said that based on statistics gathered by the commission, the number of women who underwent abortion rose from 500,000 five years ago to 700,000 today.

The figure included married women who have had unwanted pregnancies.

One-third of the three million pregnancies every year, end in abortion, either induced or miscarriage. This is the appalling revelation of the research on Induced Abortion in the Philippines conducted by the Population Institute, College of Social Studies and Philosophy, University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

Dr. Josefina Cabigon of the Population Institute bared that of the three million pregnancies in the Philippines every year, 450,000 are miscarriages while another 450,000 are induced abortions. Unplanned births number to 930,000 while planned births, 1,170,000.

The general trend in the induced abortion rate is increasing from 1994 to 2000 indirectly estimated from hospitals. Central Visayas abortion rate has dramatically increased from six percent in 1994 to 24 percent in 2000 or at least 30,810 induced abortions that are happening in the region.

The region has the biggest number of induced abortions compared to other regions in the Visayas. Western Visayas ranks second to Central Visayas with a total of 13,309 induced abortion cases and Eastern Visayas with 11,903.

According to Cabigon, there is an estimated 473,400 induced abortions in the Philippines in 2000. Listed as the causes of unintended pregnancy and unsafe induced abortion are contraceptive non-use, barriers to prevention of unplanned pregnancy, especially in high-risk groups, contraceptive failure and non-availability of contraceptives. - Jasmin R. Uy