The youth sector pins the blame on repressive provisions in the Reproductive Health law for the continuous rise of teen pregnancies and HIV cases. This in addition to the lack of sex education in the country’s public schools.
“There is a need to provide child and youth friendly services under the RH law. Remove the provision on parental consent when accessing RH services,” said peer educator of Y-Peer, Danica Magtubo.
Magtubo was referring to the fact that, under the RH law, minors first need to obtain parental consent before they can access reproductive health services.
The RH law states that no person shall be denied information and access to family planning (FP) services, whether natural or artificial. However, all minors will not be allowed to access modern FP methods without written consent from their parents or guardians, except in the emergency of life-threatening cases.
“Gold medallist ang bansa natin pag dating sa teenage pregnancy,” a frustrated Magtubo said, adding that the provision prevents teenagers from even attempting to access FP services.
(“Our country is a gold medallist when it comes to teenage pregnancy.”)
Magtubo pointed out that, according to world organizations, such as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the World Health Organization (WHO), the Philippines is the only country in Asia and in the Pacific that has failed to curb teenage pregnancies.
Magtubo likewise lamented how early pregnancy forces children to become child brides.
Read about unsafe abortions and HIV cases on the next page.
Unsafe abortions
According to lawyer Clarita Padilla, Executive Director of EnGendeRights, approximately 1,671 Filipino women undergo unsafe abortion procedures per day. Two hundred seventy-four are hospitalized, and 3 women die from abortion-related complications. One out of ten 15-19 year olds are already mothers.
Padilla added that 3 out of 10 pregnancies are mistimed or unwanted, and at least a third of these end in abortion.
May-I Fabros, Youth Commissioner of the Philippine Commission on Women, admitted that there is little data to work in determining the current extent of the problem of teen pregnancies in the country. But she estimates that, based on available data, there are about 600 adolescent pregnancies a day, around a third of which end in abortions.
HIV cases rising among the youth
“Nakakalungkot na dahil hindi natin na-eeducate ang kabataan kaya nagkakaroon ng teen pregnancy at ng HIV,” Magtubo also said.
(“It is saddening that teen pregnancy and HIV occur because we fail to educate the youth.”)
As of last year, a daily average of 22 new cases of HIV was recorded, as compared to only 1 case per day in 2008.
Read: WITH RESERVATIONS: PH misses RH goals: teen pregnancies & HIV rise
According to the Philippine National AIDS Council, as of July 2015, 30% of the new HIV cases were among the youth aged 15-24 years old and 94 % of the patients acquired the disease through sexual contact.
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