By Leilani S. Junio / Philippines News Agency
Early pregnancy among teenage girls can lead to a huge loss of potential income.
In a recent study funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), it was cited that some P33 billion in potential lifetime income for teenage girls is lost due to early pregnancy.
The study showed that early childbearing reduces the chance of teenage girls to finish high school.
In turn, this leads to a decrease in the predicted daily wage-rate profile of women in the Philippines.
Health economist and research proponent Dr. Alejandro Herrin calculated that a teenage girl who gets pregnant and does not finish high school may potentially lose earnings up to P83,000 a year when she gets paid for work at age 20.
“This is about 87 percent of the potential annual income of a 20-year-old woman who completed her high-school education and did not get pregnant in her teen years,” Herrin said.
Herrin added that there is a wide gap in the estimated daily-wage rate between a girl who got pregnant early and a girl who gets to finish school.
In a study conducted based on the 2012 and 2013 data of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), completing high-school education increases daily-wage rates of women by P300.
The study also said at age 20, a girl who began childbearing before age 18 may only earn about P46 a day, compared to the P361-per-day estimate for someone who completed high school and did not get pregnant early.
This happens because a girl who got pregnant at an early age may be forced to stop going to school because she needs to give birth.
Upon giving birth, unfortunately, some of them cannot go back to school because they are left with the obligation to take care of their children and, worst, if they are not given the proper advice about family planning, its possible they can get pregnant again, which will result to more number of unplanned pregnancies.
“When taken altogether, the potential lifetime earnings lost due to early childbearing is P33 billion, which is equal to 1.1 percent of the Philippines’s gross domestic product in 2012,” the health economist said.
On average, 72 percent of women between 18 to 19 years old are expected to complete high school if they did not begin childbearing before age 18.
The predicted completion rate for teens who began childbearing early is lower at only 65 percent.
“These results suggest that policies on reducing early childbearing are likely to have substantial impact on the education and economic conditions of women and their families,” Herrin said.
He added that there is a need to realize that teen pregnancy is not just a health issue.
“When a girl gets pregnant, her health, education and relationships with her family and community all get entangled in a life-changing roller-coaster,” UNFPA Country Representative Klaus Beck said.
Beck added that what is currently being done and should be done can determine the kind of country the Philippines will be a decade later.
In the 2013 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey (YAFSS) some factors that lead to early sexual encounters and teenage pregnancy were identified, such as smoking and use of drugs and alcohol, living away from home, being idle or doing nothing and having older siblings who have gotten pregnant or given birth in their teen years.
Reasonable parenting style and open communication with parents was suggested as a way to prevent teen pregnancy.
To help curb the implications of teen pregnancy, the Commission on Population (PopCom) is pushing for the enactment of an Adolescent Health Act.
“We are starting to gather our evidences to push for a law that will help adolescents and their parents gain better access to information and services on adolescent health and youth development,” said Dr. Juan Antonio Perez III, PopCom executive director.