ALLOWING minors to access contraceptives and family planning services can reduce teen pregnancies nationwide, according to the Commission on Population and Development (Popcom).
In a statement, Popcom expressed support for Senate Bill 1334 or the proposed “Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act” which, they said, can provide “unimpeded access” to family planning services for minors.
Currently, minors are not given access to family planning services including contraceptives. However, teen pregnancies have increased, especially among the 10 to 14 year olds.
“We need to address minor parents’ lack of access to family planning services,” Popcom Executive Director and Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez III asserted. “POPCOM believes it is high time for our lawmakers to acknowledge the glaring fact that the numbers of minors who are becoming vulnerable to social and economic pressures, on top of their health needs, are escalating yearly.”
Perez said that if passed into law, SB 1334 will benefit minor girls who are already mothers and those who are currently conceiving.
He said this will enable their unimpeded access to reproductive health programs and age- and development-appropriate education and information on sexual health and family planning.
In 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the country had 62,341 minors who delivered babies—counting those with repeated pregnancies.
The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) sounded the alarm on the glaring incidences of teenage pregnancy, which he said had already reached a level of being a “national social emergency.”
It added that this was “a drag on the Philippines’ economic growth,” as it has identified existing evidence on social and economic impact.
Perez explained that with this national social emergency, POPCOM is extending support to comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). This ensures that public and private schools serve as avenues for development of young Filipinos.
Schools can provide a supportive environment where they have access to age- and development-appropriate information on responsible parenthood and reproductive health, as stated in Rule 11 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the RPRH Law.
“The public, as well as our solons, should now be cognizant of the fact that families started by minors year-in and year-out, especially the young mothers who have experienced repeat pregnancies, are the real beneficiaries of the RPRH Law,” Perez said.
“It will be further complemented and supported by SB No. 1334 if eventually enacted, as both will provide necessary protection to our young mothers who now have become among those most vulnerable in Philippine society,” he added.
Perez said the Supreme Court ruling in April 2014 struck down a part of the RPRH Law that provides access to family planning services to minors below 18 or young girls who are already mothers or are currently pregnant.
The Supreme Court declared that it is the role of their parents to give consent to the adolescents’ use of artificial or natural methods of contraception.
The number of adolescents who gave birth have increased, “with only a marginal decline,” according to Perez, “because of various efforts in-place, which still require broader policy support—including budget and resources.”
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