Gov’t alarmed over rising teenage pregnancy

The Marcos administration has committed to addressing the rising cases of teenage pregnancies in the country, Malacañang announced last week.

“The government will do its part, whatever it entails na maibsan natin ‘yung (to lessen the) increasing rates of teenage pregnancies,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said during an event in Pasay City. He described the issue as a “very serious problem” influenced by factors such as inadequate education and neglect among teenage mothers.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed that live births among girls aged 10 to 14 increased by 6.6 percent, from 2,411 in 2019 to 3,343 in 2023. Additionally, 38 girls under the age of 15 experienced multiple pregnancies in 2023, while 17 women under 20 had given birth five or more times.

Bersamin’s statement comes amid discussions on Senate Bill (SB) 1979, or the proposed Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act. Senator Risa Hontiveros recently filed a substitute version of the bill after the original measure faced backlash for certain provisions and the withdrawal of support from several senators.

The substitute bill mandates the implementation of a Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) Program while addressing concerns raised about the earlier version. The original SB 1979 faced criticism for provisions that removed parental consent and included content deemed inappropriate for young children.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. previously expressed his intent to veto the original bill, calling some of its provisions “ridiculous” and “abhorrent.” The revised measure removes references to “international standards” and emphasizes that the CSE Program must provide “comprehensive, age- and developmentally-appropriate information” on reproductive health and adolescent sexuality.

Marcos said he would review the substitute bill before reconsidering the proposal. Bersamin confirmed that the President has not yet formed an opinion on the revised measure.

“She (Hontiveros) finally realized that there was something objectionable to this earlier version, to her earlier version. But we are not judging her version at all. And let’s be fair to the President. You do not expect him to react kung hindi pa nya nabasa yung bagong version (if he has not read the new version yet),” Bersamin explained.

He added that it would be unfair to expect the President to comment without a full understanding of the substitute bill’s text. “There will be another, a substitute bill that will be submitted. The language of that, the text of that is not yet in our cognizance,” Bersamin said.