My husband and I came across a girl selling sampaguita garlands the other day. She said that she needed the money to buy milk for her baby. I was quite surprised because she looked very young – too young to have a baby. She said she is just 14 years old and her pregnancy has forced her to stop schooling. The sad reality is, she is just one of the thousands of Filipino teenage girls who are in the same situation.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in developing regions an estimated 21 million girls aged 15 to 19 years become pregnant and approximately 12 million of them give birth. In the Philippines, the National Demographic and Health Survey 2017 showed that nine percent of women aged 15 to 19 have started to have children. Even children as young as 10 years old have started childbearing. The Philippine Statistics Authority provided information that shows that in 2019, each day there were about 496 babies born to adolescent Filipinos aged 10 to 19 years old. These numbers are so alarming that the National Economic and Development Authority has called the situation a “national social emergency.”
The problem of teenage pregnancy negatively affects the health, education, income and employment opportunities of not only these young mothers but also the next generation. Child bearing at a young age increases the risk of poor health outcomes for both the mother and the child. For the adolescent mother, it is associated with a higher risk of health problems like anemia, sexually transmitted infections, postpartum hemorrhage and poor mental health outcomes.
On the other hand, babies of adolescent mothers have a higher risk of low birth weight, pre-term birth and severe neonatal conditions. Because of the numerous health risks to adolescent mothers, complications related to pregnancy and childbirth are among the leading causes of death for adolescents aged 15-19, according to the WHO.
Based on a United Nations Population Fund study, adolescents in the Philippines who have started childbearing before the age of 18 are less likely to complete their secondary education compared to adolescents who have not given birth. This in turn impacts on the employment opportunities that would be available to them in the future and it affects the opportunities available for their children as well. The teenage pregnancy makes it harder for the adolescent mother to rise from poverty but more than that, it makes it harder for her children and her children’s children too. It leads to intergenerational transfer of poverty.
The statistics are alarming and saddening and we must act to save these teenage mothers from a downward spiral of illness, abuse, ignorance and poverty. We have taken some positive steps but it is not enough.
We passed the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RH) Law 11 years ago and one of its objectives was to address the problem of adolescent pregnancies by mandating the provision of access to RH and modern family planning services, maternal health care and RH and age-appropriate sexuality education for the youth. Former president Rodrigo Duterte also issued Executive Order No. 141, series of 2021, which adopts as a national priority the implementation of measures to address the root causes of the rising number of teenage pregnancies. It mobilized the government agencies towards several areas of intervention, such as comprehensive sexuality education, education and employment opportunities for the youth and promoting health through media. It also mandates the Department of Budget and Management to include the prevention of adolescent pregnancies in the Annual Budget Priorities Framework in the National Expenditure Plan.
The issuance of EO 141 series of 2021 is a good step towards arresting the problem but legislative gaps still exist because of limited access to contraceptives and information as well as the failure to fully provide for social protection to adolescent parents. The enactment of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Law would be able to fill in these gaps and it would be a big step towards solving the problem of teenage pregnancy.
Several bills on the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Law are currently pending in both houses of Congress. If enacted, the law will provide for comprehensive social protection services to adolescents who are currently pregnant. The adolescent mothers shall be provided with maternal health services, including antenatal check-ups and facility-based delivery; home-based education and personal PhilHealth coverage, mandating the enrollment of indigent and indigenous adolescent mothers.
If enacted, it will also require the development of educational standards and materials to promote comprehensive responsible sexuality education in schools and communities, and it will institutionalize the provision of a comprehensive sexuality education program for out-of-school adolescents. Teen Centers are also to be established in municipalities and cities where information and services on adolescent sexual and reproductive health can be accessed.
Another matter that must be addressed is the need for parental consent to access modern family planning methods for minors who have already given birth. The Court ruled in Imbong v. Ochoa that the parents’ natural and primary right and duty in the rearing of their minor children for civic efficiency and the development of their minor children’s moral character is violated when their consent is not required for the access of their minor children to modern family planning services. The court found that there was no compelling state interest that would allow the state to take over the parents’ control over their minor children’s reproductive health. Consequently, parental consent was required to access modern family planning services even if the minors have already given birth or had a miscarriage, except in emergency or life-threatening cases. Perhaps another exception to this provision could be legislated to aid minors who have already given birth or had a miscarriage and who desire access to modern family planning services but whose parents have abandoned them or have neglected to provide them with guidance.
Although the teenage childbearing rate in the Philippines has decreased from 13.7 percent in 2013 to 6.8 percent in 2021, the number of teenage pregnancies is still high at 386,000 Filipino girls aged 15-19 – one of the highest in Southeast Asia. The decrease in the rate could be attributed to the implementation of the RH Law but passing the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Law would surely be able to further reduce this number. We must continue to find ways to empower adolescent mothers, provide them with social protection, prevent teenage pregnancies and save lives because girls should be girls, not moms.