Stop failing our children

Here we are in the year 2025, and the problem of teenage and adolescent pregnancy is once more in the news. Just as it was in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020… during the debates for the passage of the Reproductive Health law – which was passed more than a dozen years ago – those of us who pushed for it were already citing figures that showed that at that time, the country had the second highest teenage pregnancy rate in Southeast Asia, that the number of babies born to teenage mothers has risen from 39 to 54 for every 1,000 births. In 2012 we were having these discussions, in 2012 our young girls were suffering under the yoke of unwanted, dangerous, criminal pregnancies, with scientifically acknowledged and documented risks and tangible harm being done to some of the most vulnerable among us.

Let us be clear on the realities of teenage and adolescent pregnancies in general and in the Philippines in particular:

Adolescent pregnancy brings a host of physical risks for the young prospective mother, including preeclampsia, preterm premature rupture of the membrane (PPROM), increased incidence of pregnancy-induced hypertension and maternal death.

There are mental risks to the mother as well, such as increased risk of postpartum depression, of feelings of guilt, worthlessness, disgrace, as well as loneliness and isolation. This is compounded by the practical realities of the situation that an adolescent mother would most likely face here: discrimination, the inability to continue to pursue her education, the increased financial burden from medical and childcare costs… all of these will serve to derail the young mother from any dreams of a career or higher education.

There are substantial risks to the newborn child as well, such as an increased chance of premature birth, low birth weight, still-births, early neonatal demise, being small for their gestational age and various congenital anomalies. Should the child survive but be inflicted with a long-term impairment, that too will be something that the young mother will have to deal with.

These documented dangers are happening to the youth that the State is constitutionally bound to protect – that we citizens and adults are morally bound to care for.

The numbers show the reality: births to adolescent mothers made up 9.82 percent of the total 1.45 million births in 2023. Practically every one of these mothers is a real instance where we have collectively failed in our obligation to protect that girl from abuse. Yes, abuse! Because the age of sexual consent in our nation is 16. A man who has sex with a girl below 16 years of age is committing statutory rape, regardless of her consent, except if their age gap is less than three years. However, this exception does not apply if the girl is below 13 years old.

According to data that has been presented, of the more than 3,000 children born to mothers aged 10 to 14 years old in 2023, only 22 had fathers who were of the same age as their mothers. In fact, 99 percent of those mothers aged 10-14 years old had someone older than 17 years old as the father of their child. In other words, most of these cases are statutory rape since the men are more than three years older than the girl they impregnated and many of the girls are below 13 years old.

Most of adolescent pregnancies occur in relationships where the male partner is an adult and in a position to exert undue influence on the adolescent girl, intentionally or not. In order to protect these young girls, it is necessary to level the playing field, to empower them. And the easiest way to empower children, one with a proven track record, is that of sexual education.

In a 2020 survey, teen pregnancy was seen as the “most important problem of women today” – many already raised the issue of difficulty in access to information about family planning and services, with note being made of the stigma faced by young people who try to access information and services regarding reproductive health.

This is the context within which the persistence of high adolescent pregnancy numbers – in spite of the enactment of the RH Law – must be interpreted. The implementation of some of its provisions were hamstrung and diluted, and efforts to undermine it continue to this day, particularly with regard to the issue of sex education. In order to protect and empower young Filipinas, it is imperative that the State enact new laws that provide for more wholistic, comprehensive and empowering education for our children on the topics of sexuality and reproduction.

Many of those who object to sexual and reproductive education do not propose alternative solutions or novel angles to attack the problem of adolescent pregnancy. Instead, they shadow box with the specter of abuse and a corruption of innocence.

Let me tell you, as someone whose work involves grappling with problems such as human trafficking and the online exploitation of children, there do exist grave and real threats to the innocence of our children. But information and education – frankly and honestly discussed and delivered – is the most potent way to not only defend our children but empower them to defend themselves. It is ignorance that most often leads to the abuse of children, when they do not know what is harmful to them, what their rights are, where they can go to for help. Although the norms and customs in the Philippines are not the same as those of Western nations, our bodies are the same, the process of creating a child is the same, the harm caused by early pregnancies is the same. Any qualms based on unsubstantiated fears that make our children more vulnerable to exploitation must be subordinated to the good of the child.

Our girls are suffering now – this is no hypothetical scenario. We must give them what they need to protect themselves, arm them with the knowledge to make positive decisions for their lives. Fear mongering will not help the 13-year-old being wooed by the adult man with money and the worldly ways.

But an education can. Our children need information, they need education – not pointless handwringing and clutching at old ways that have failed our children.

We must fail our children no more.