The government and civil society should “rethink” their approaches to teenage pregnancy. Instead of condemning it, they should come up with a "clear and comprehensive vocabulary for their pleasures and needs."

In doing so, Oxfam Pilipinas said that adolescent girls and young women would be able to express consent or enforce their refusal.

Oxfam Pilipinas conducted a study on teenage pregnancy entitled: "Saying Yes to Whose Pleasures? A Feminist Study on the Acceptability of Pregnancies for Young Women.”

The study showed the need for Filipino society to accept the reality and the power of teen pleasure and sexuality.

Wikipedia says Oxfam “is a British founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International.” Oxfam Pilipinas “works towards a future where Filipinos, especially women and other vulnerable sectors, are free from the injustices of poverty.”

"Teenage pregnancy in a predominantly Catholic country like the Philippines has always been controversial. This study seeks to better understand how the youth actually see themselves in relation to pregnancy and sexuality," said Oxfam Pilipinas Country Director Lot Felizco.

Oxfam Pilipinas said that the number of Filipino teenagers giving birth had actually been on a downward trend. However, there is an alarming increase of births among adolescents aged 10 to 14, it said.

“There is also an increase in ‘repeat pregnancies’ among girls aged 10 to 17 years old,” said Sabrina Laya Gacad, author of the study. But Gacad said the numbers do not fully reveal the situation of teenagers who face unexpected pregnancies.

The study revealed that there is an “overwhelming acceptance of pregnancy among young women who had experienced it.” Their reasons ranged from seeing the pregnancy as a blessing to simply accepting it because it had already happened, it said.

"Pregnancy acceptability has more to do with ideas and expectations about motherhood, and the desire to make the most out of an unpleasant situation, than the circumstances around their sexual initiation," Gacad explained.

When asked about their early sexual initiation, the respondents revealed that they were either forced or coerced to doing it, or "eventually" wanting it for themselves, Gacad said.

"Power dynamics are skewed against teen girls or young women when their partners are older and employ a combination of coercive or abusive tactics," she said.

Abstinence only worked in situations when their sexual partners are of the same age, the study found.

"Because if you are of the same age, you have the same environment, a young person can assert their desires against a possibly assertive male partner," said Gacad. "What is worrying is how long women can keep saying no and their wishes are respected by their partner,” she added.

"It’s not enough to say that teenage pregnancy is bad. It has to align with their desire, especially since there are some people who want to get pregnant at a young age," she said.

"Maybe we don’t need to change their desire for pregnancy but instead their idea of fulfillment as a woman," she added.