8 in 10 young people favor RH – SWS

MANILA, Philippines - About eight in 10 young people – 15 to 19 years old – in Metro Manila are in favor of a law on family planning and reproductive health (RH), a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

“Here in NCR (National Capital Region), 83 percent of adolescents ‘agree’ that there should be law in the Philippines on RH and family planning as against only eight percent who ‘disagree’,” Forum for Family Planning and Development president Benjamin de Leon said.

The SWS survey said 78 percent of adolescents in Metro Manila are aware of the RH bill, with nine out of 10 saying television is the main source of information.

The survey, conducted from Oct. 26 to 28, was commissioned by The Forum for Family Planning and Development, Inc. using face-to-face interviews of 600 respondents.

Eighty-five percent of the respondents believe that students of age 15 to 24 years “should be given adolescent health education in school.”

The survey said 84 percent agree that men and women – 15 to 24 years old – should be given family planning information and services.

The poll revealed there “should be a law that requires government to teach family planning to the youth.”

The RH bill, which promotes both the artificial and natural family planning, is still being debated in Congress.