agged breaths echo around the room, the musky scent of sweat
accompanied by the constant banging of the headboard to the adjacent
wall. Cries of pleasure resonate throughout the four walls of the
dilapidated bedroom. Two beings synchronized in an unpredictable yet
rhythmic pattern, naïve to the possible consequences. Yet nine months
later, she holds a miniature hand in her palm, but no one to hold hers.
She’s only fifteen.
Teenage pregnancy is the biggest problem women and girls face in the
Philippines. Based on data from the World Bank, as seen in the United
Nations Fund for Population Activities' (UNFPA) January 2020 Policy
Brief on Eliminating Teenage Pregnancy in the Philippines, there are “47
annual births per 1000 Filipinas (aged 15 - 19)” with the global average
being 44, and “everyday 500 adolescent girls are either getting pregnant
or giving birth.”
These girls are usually coming from lower income households, as
statistically adolescent girls from higher income households are at lower
risk for experiencing a teenage pregnancy. These girls are already
struggling financially due to the situation they were born into, a victim of
a lack of quality education due to the inherently flawed public school
system, now add a child into the mix. A child they had no choice but to
carry to term because abortion is still illegal in the Philippines. How do
you care for a child, if you are a child yourself and all the odds seem to be
pitted against you?
Having a child so young could rob these adolescents of a better future.
Filipinos strongly believe in owning up to their own problems. If these
girls unfortunately have no support system who would be willing to help
them raise the child, they could be thrown out or forced to stay home
and care for the child. These girls would be told, “Problema mo, ikaw
mag-ayos” which means “It’s your problem, so it’s your responsibility to
fix it.” They’re likely to drop out of school which leads to having no
diploma thus being immediately disadvantaged when applying for jobs
in the corporate world. They might resort to illegal means, such as
prostitution and drug pushing just to make ends meet, and it is a
struggle, close to nearly impossible, to see the light at the end of the
tunnel as the cycle of poverty repeats itself once again. It’s not only the
parents’ lights who dim, but also the child’s.
The problem of Philippine’s teenage pregnancy issue roots from the lack
of sex education and the age of consent. As a predominantly Catholic
nation, it is expected that one saves themselves for marriage;
so, discussing sexual intercourse otherwise known as the “birds and the
bees talk” is not something Filipino children and adolescents normally
get from their parents. The fear of “discussing sex” results in the lack of
quality information in sexual education (SexEd) subjects. Sex education
curriculums in schools have only been implemented roughly 7 - 8 years
ago coinciding with the passing of the Reproductive Health and
Responsible Parenthood Act of 2012 (RH Act). However, these classes
are still at their beginning stages and are usually not heavily required, so
a lot of Filipinos are still uneducated about the proper use of
contraceptives, and essentially safe sex. Due to the country’s values being
heavily Catholic-based, the discussion of contraceptives and abortion is
hindered because it goes against what Catholic doctrines teach.
The Philippine age of consent, since 1930, is 12 years old. How could a
child consent to sex when according to research, their brains won’t reach
maturity until the age of 25. The extremely young age of consent allows
for older people to prey on experimental adolescents, thus grooming
them, and potentially even impregnating them.
To address the lack of sex education and extremely young age of consent
is vital for more young women to have the life they deserve. Currently,
lawmakers are lobbying to increase the age of consent, but we the people
should be more vocal in holding these lawmakers accountable, so they
won’t keep on pushing this issue to the backburner. As for the lack of sex
education, there must be an active push to normalize talk about sex.
Misconceptions on how sex education encourages the youth to engage in
premarital sex should be debunked as the lack of sex education leads to
more uninformed choices with undesirable consequences.
Teenage pregnancy will not be an issue, someone will finally be there to
hold her hand, and not let it be her downfall.