Increase in recorded teenage pregnancies ''alarming''
Hundreds of private organizations and representatives from government agencies called for the immediate passage of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill emphasizing the "alarming" increase in recorded teenage pregnancies.
In a press conference in Quezon City on Thursday, Assistant Education Secretary Dexter Galban said teenage pregnancy is considered by the Department of Education as "one of the top issues of concern".
"Personally, I believe it's very alarming. As an agency, of course, we consider this one of the top issues of concern because if a learner, a child, becomes pregnant, the likelihood of not finishing school is increased," he said.
"Although we have interventions when it comes to alternative delivery modes. But as always, what we push is that even one teen pregnancy is too much because, again, that can have a snowball effect because we don't want that to be the norm wherein it becomes very regular for us to see teenage pregnancy as something that's seen in schools all the time," he added.
Mylin Mirasol Quiray, the head of the Knowledge Management and Communication Division of the Commission of Population and Development (CPD) said based on the government data significant increase in the number of pregnancies among minors were recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Data from the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics show that live births among minors (age 10-17) increased to 56,574 in 2022 from 50,790 in 2021. The live births among those belonging to the age below sexual consent (10-15 years old) also significantly increased from its 2021 level of 8,914 births, to 2022, of 10,826 births, which is even higher than the pre-pandemic level," she said.
"Most alarming is the increase in live births among girls aged 10-14 since 2020, from 2,319 to 3,135 births in 2022. These are indicative of sexual abuse, as they are already considered as statutory rape as per Republic Act 11648, or an Act promoting for stronger protection against rape and sexual exploitation and abuse, increasing the age for determining the commission of statutory rape," she added.
Quiray said the CPD are also alarmed by the incidences of repeat pregnancies, "that in 2022 alone, there were 25, 358 second, third, fourth, even fifth live births among girls aged 10-19."
"Another case in point is the rise in adolescent fathers or the Batang Ama, as there was an increase of young Filipino men who fathered young Filipino women, from 5,054 in 2018 to 8,665 in 2019," she added.
She also noted that a study using 2012 to 2013 data from several surveys of the Philippine Statistics Authority that was funded by the United Nations Population Fund shows that "some P33 billion in potential lifetime income for teenage girls is lost due to early pregnancy".
Quiray said Health economist and research proponent Alejandro Herrin stated that "the potential lifetime earnings lost due to early childbearing is P33 billion, which is equal to 1.1 per cent of the Philippines’ gross domestic product in 2012."
Galban said although the data used for the study was from "several years ago", he noted that "the assumption is it's going to be significantly larger" with the increase of our country's population.
"Again, that's very alarming as a nation," he said.
Given the urgency of this concern, Quiray said "the Commission on Population and Development (CPD), together with other stakeholders" are appealing to members of the Senate of the Philippines for the immediate passage of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill which was approved on its final reading before the House of Representatives last September of previous year.
"The enactment of the said bill is important in ensuring a supportive policy framework to safeguard young people from unintended pregnancies and their repercussions is crucial for bolstering the country's socioeconomic development potential," she said.
Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raoul Danniel Manuel, author of the bill, expressed hope that the Senate will be able to sign the bill before the 19th Congress ends this year. Robina Asido/DMS
