Hontiveros stresses new bill would stem tide of teenage pregnancies
Published Aug 24, 2019 12:56 pm
By Mario Casayuran
Senator Risa Hontiveros pushed Saturday for the early passage of the Teenage Pregnancy Bill as she expressed concern over the growing number of teenage pregnancies.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros (Senator Risa Hontiveros / Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)
“Para maiwasan ang pagdami ng mga batang ina, pang-unawa, edukasyon at tulong medikal ang kailangan, hindi ang pananakot o pangungutya,’’ she said. (To prevent the increase of teen pregnancies, what is needed is understanding, education and medical help, not fear or prejudice.)
Hontiveros said passage by Congress of her bill would address the rise in adolescent birth rates around the country, which socio-economic planners have called a “national social emergency.”
Hontiveros made the call after Socio-economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) alerted the public to the skyrocketing number of teenage pregnancies over the past decade, which he said is a “national concern.”
Pernia said that in three regions in Mindanao (Davao, Northern Mindanao, Socckscsargen) alone, as much as 15 to 18 percent of teenage girls living in those areas had already given birth.
For Hontiveros, who is author of Senate Bill 161, or the “Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2018," the solution to this health and social problem lies with legislation “that will deal with its main causes: lack of proper information of our youth and lack of access to relevant reproductive health services.”
She explained that under her bill, the government will launch a comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality education to better inform young Filipinos and parents alike about sex, gender, and reproductive health issues.
Such education program would cover public and private school, universities and would be provided even to out-of-school youth, she explained.
The bill also mandates more social protection programs for teenage mothers, such as accessible maternal health services, workshops, and livelihood programs. Likewise, the bill also provides medical, legal and other services for teenage mothers who were victims of sexual abuse or violence.
Hontiveros said that government must quickly address the problem, if it wants to stem not only the health, social and cultural effects of teenage pregnancies, but also their economic implications.
The NEDA earlier reported that due to early pregnancies, many teenage girls are deprived of their ability to achieve lifetime earnings which loss collectively may reach an estimated P24 to 42 billion.
“If we fail to act and do not guide the youth towards safe and healthy lifestyles, we will not just condemn young Filipinas to lives of poverty and suffering. We will also be hurting our country’s chances for progress and development. Paano magiging pag-asa ng bayan ang kabataan kung sila ay maraming problemang pinapasan?," Hontiveros asked.
(How can we say the youth is the hope of the Fatherland if they themselves carry a heavy burden?)
Sen. Risa Hontiveros (Senator Risa Hontiveros / Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)
“Para maiwasan ang pagdami ng mga batang ina, pang-unawa, edukasyon at tulong medikal ang kailangan, hindi ang pananakot o pangungutya,’’ she said. (To prevent the increase of teen pregnancies, what is needed is understanding, education and medical help, not fear or prejudice.)
Hontiveros said passage by Congress of her bill would address the rise in adolescent birth rates around the country, which socio-economic planners have called a “national social emergency.”
Hontiveros made the call after Socio-economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) alerted the public to the skyrocketing number of teenage pregnancies over the past decade, which he said is a “national concern.”
Pernia said that in three regions in Mindanao (Davao, Northern Mindanao, Socckscsargen) alone, as much as 15 to 18 percent of teenage girls living in those areas had already given birth.
For Hontiveros, who is author of Senate Bill 161, or the “Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2018," the solution to this health and social problem lies with legislation “that will deal with its main causes: lack of proper information of our youth and lack of access to relevant reproductive health services.”
She explained that under her bill, the government will launch a comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality education to better inform young Filipinos and parents alike about sex, gender, and reproductive health issues.
Such education program would cover public and private school, universities and would be provided even to out-of-school youth, she explained.
The bill also mandates more social protection programs for teenage mothers, such as accessible maternal health services, workshops, and livelihood programs. Likewise, the bill also provides medical, legal and other services for teenage mothers who were victims of sexual abuse or violence.
Hontiveros said that government must quickly address the problem, if it wants to stem not only the health, social and cultural effects of teenage pregnancies, but also their economic implications.
The NEDA earlier reported that due to early pregnancies, many teenage girls are deprived of their ability to achieve lifetime earnings which loss collectively may reach an estimated P24 to 42 billion.
“If we fail to act and do not guide the youth towards safe and healthy lifestyles, we will not just condemn young Filipinas to lives of poverty and suffering. We will also be hurting our country’s chances for progress and development. Paano magiging pag-asa ng bayan ang kabataan kung sila ay maraming problemang pinapasan?," Hontiveros asked.
(How can we say the youth is the hope of the Fatherland if they themselves carry a heavy burden?)