Opinion: Teen Pregnancy, it’s Our Problem

12/07/2019 08:25:00 PM Media Center 0 Comments

The Commission on Population (POPCOM) claims that 500 girls aged 15 to 19 give birth daily in the Philippines – averaging approximately 196,000 births yearly. For obvious socio-economic reasons, teenagers have a harder time rearing children, especially as most become single mothers.

It would be hard to avoid labeling this situation as a problem. The Philippines can only sustain so many young children. The more children are born, the more mouths have to be fed.

According to POPCOM, this situation needs to be controlled. Actually, there were efforts to control teenage pregnancy. In fact, the teenage pregnancy rate in the country has declined to 8.7% in 2017 from 10.2% in 2016. Regardless, further action is needed to keep this number declining.

POPCOM NCR Regional Director Lydio Español Jr. claims that the youth of today has “moral decadence", or the lack of morals. To resolve the issue, Español says that the religious sector should step up. Proponents should instruct the nation’s youth on morality and reinforce "the contribution of religious belief to abstain from premarital sexual activities".

The institutions that make up the religious sector hold varying degrees of influence on their adherents. As such, religious preachers hold some sway in convincing their congregations to be committed and loyal to their spouses, abstain from sexual activities until marriage, or to altogether lead lives of celibacy. While it would be wrong to deny the influence of the various religious institutions in the nation, it would also be wrong to solely rely on them to address this situation.

Not all cases of teenage pregnancy are caused by amoral promiscuous teens who exist outside the light of religion. Children, some not even in their teens, are exploited and raped daily in illegal brothels or in front of web cameras. UNICEF calls the Philippines "the global epicenter of the live-stream sexual abuse trade” (Brown, 2016). The International Labor Organization approximates 60,000 to 100,000 children are involved in prostitution rings in the Philippines.

Some teenagers, who have no exposure to the teachings about sexual and reproductive health, are left to wander aimlessly and learn on their own through experimentation. Even if they had such exposure, what good would it be when most do not have a reliable access to contraceptives?

What would religious dogma and doctrine do to stop the sexual exploitation of teenagers in illegal brothels? What would it do to address the youth’s lack of information on sexual and reproductive health? What would it do to provide the youth’s access to reproductive health and sexual programs?

Surely, Español does not expect institutions such as the Catholic Church to deploy agents to investigate and prosecute those who carry out acts of sexual violence, to instruct their congregation on how to use contraceptives, or to distribute contraceptives at their doors. Especially since the Catholic Church has openly denounced the use of contraceptives (Aquino, 2019; Yee, 2019).

Yes, religious institutions have their role in preventing teenage pregnancies. However, they do not address its root causes. These are mainly sexual violence, lack of information on sexual and reproductive health, and lack of access to reproductive health and sexual programs. The responsibility will then inevitably fall to other societal institutions such as education sectors and law enforcement.

To properly address teenage pregnancy, it would require the combined efforts of the religious, education, media, law enforcement and health sectors, and every other institution or sector that routinely interact with the youth. Of course, the combined efforts should be led by those who have the means, initiative, and reach. The mopping up of sexual violence would best be left to law enforcement. The lack of information would best be handled by educators and medical instructors. Access to programs can be provided by health professionals and service providers. //by Gabe Ulanday

1. Aquino, L. (2019, June 10). Contraceptive use morally unacceptable – Tarlac priest. Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 4 December 2019 from https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/06/10/contraceptive-use-morally-unacceptable-tarlac-priest/.

2. Brown, A. (2016, October 19). Safe from harm: Tackling online child sexual abuse in the Philippines. UNICEF. Retrieved 4 December 2019 from https://www.unicef.org/protection/philippines_91214.html.

3. Yee, J. (2019, July 22). Church opposition stalling Reproductive Health Law. Philippine Inquirer. Retrieved 4 December 2019 from https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1144442/church-opposition-stalling-reproductive-health-law.