Negligence is not an excuse: An editorial on teenage pregnancy

Adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH), or the lack thereof, is fast becoming the defining issue of this generation of young Filipinos. Without a robust response from all stakeholders, the Philippines is on track toward a full-blown, national teenage pregnancy crisis. Teenage pregnancy rates across the world have declined in the past two decades except in the Philippines, according to a new survey.

According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), teenage pregnancy has a huge rate in the Philippines, especially among the poor. 2/3 of Filipinos, who give birth before age 20, belongs to the low class society.

Data from the National Statistics Office showed that 8 percent among 1.7 million babies born in 2004 were born to mothers 15-19 years old. Young mother gave birth to 818,000 babies in 2000 alone. This means, almost one of every 10 babies is born to teenage mothers. The risk is, almost 10 percent of the born babies from young mothers are malnourished. As years passed by, the statistics are getting higher. According to the study done by the Population Institute of the University of the Philippines, more than 46 percent of teenage pregnant woman resort to induced abortion which is against the law and the Church; 2 of every 5 teenage pregnancies are unwanted ones. If the government won’t start acting on this, this problem will be worse as years goes by.It also says that one in 10 young Filipino women - between 15 and 19 years of age - is already a mother.

Staggering facts support this call for concern. Data (2014) from the Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA) reveal that every hour, 24 babies are delivered by teenage mothers. According to the 2014 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality (YAFS) study, around 14 percent of Filipino girls aged 15 to 19 are either pregnant for the first time or are already mothers—more than twice the rate recorded in 2002. Among six major economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Philippines has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies and is the only country where the rate is increasing, per the United Nations Population Fund.

Teenagers from poor backgrounds are disproportionately represented among pregnant teenagers. However, experts have argued that teenage pregnancy should be understood as a symptom of dire economic conditions rather than a cause of it. Teenage pregnancy perpetuates the cycle of poverty and inequality because most pregnant teenagers have no source of income and face greater financial difficulties later in life. This is because they drop out of school and are less likely to pursue further education or skills training.A few factors adding to the continued increase in birth rates include having multiple sexual partners as well as low condom use.

Alarmingly, while maternal deaths are decreasing in the Philippines, teenage maternal deaths are increasing. Ten percent of pregnant teenagers died in the last year, according to the PSA. Data from the WHO also show a high and increasing incidence of fetal death in Filipino mothers under 20.

Teenage mothers face critical health risks, including: inadequate nutrition during pregnancy due to poor eating habits; dangers associated with the reproductive organs not ready for birth; and maternal death due to higher risk of eclampsia, among others.

In 2012, the Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled that it was constitutional to implement the Reproductive Health Law, meaning that low-income earners had a right to family planning services and free contraception.

According to Josefina Natividad, YAFS coordinator and director of the University of the Philippines Population Institute, young Filipinos have limited access to sex education and ASRH services, especially if they are underage and unmarried. Seventy-eight percent are not using any form of contraception or protection against sexually transmitted diseases and infections when they are having sex for the first time. While government programs aim to delay the beginning of childbearing and hasten fertility decline, teenage pregnancies continue to increase. Perhaps it is really time for a new and more collaborative strategy?.

Reasons for becoming pregnant among teenagers include: unplanned sexual encounters (“getting caught up in the moment”) and peer pressure; lack of information on safe sex; breakdown of family life and lack of good female role models in the family; and absence of accessible, adolescent-friendly clinics.

In the face of numerous challenges that Filipino adolescents face every day—discrimination, gender-based violence, harmful gender stereotypes—they must be equipped with the life skills and assets to help them make the best decisions for themselves and their community.

At the end of the day, when an adolescent, especially a girl, knows her rights, is empowered to choose, and is heard, she can improve not only her life but also the life of her immediate and future families.