Adolescent pregnancy prevention bill pushed

THE Commission on Population and Development (CPD) pushed for the swift passage of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill as live births among very young girls in the country increased in 2022.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said that live births among adolescent mothers ages 15 years old and below rose to 3,135 in 2022 from 2,320 in 2021, up by 35.13 percent.

“Although live births from adolescent girls 14 years old and below make up just 0.22 percent of total live births recorded, CPD is still deeply concerned about the increase in adolescent pregnancy, especially among our very young girls,” CPD Executive Director Lisa Grace Bersales said.

The group reiterated its call for the legislative branch to prioritize the passage of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill.

“We cannot overemphasize the significance of having the bill enacted. It is my strong belief, and that of the agency’s, that its enactment will be essential in addressing the lingering concern of early child-bearing and motherhood among a great number of our juvenile Filipino girls,” Bersales said.

In September 2023, the House of Representatives approved on second reading House Bill 8910, or the proposed “Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Act,” which provides for a national policy to arrest the growing cases of childbearing and childbirths among adolescents.

Bersales said that the bill’s passage will be vital to the implementation of the Philippine Population and Development Plan of Action.

Under the action plan’s eight key strategies is the further advancement of Filipino teens’ health and development, where the phenomenon of early parentHOOD IS SPECIfiCALLY ADDRESSED.

The program aims to boost the implementation and promotion of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in schools and communities, improve the access of adolescents to sexual and reproductive health and other social services, and promote and sustain youth development and participation initiatives at the community LEVEL, WITH SPECIfiC TACTICS TO TACKLE adolescent pregnancies head-on.

“Above and beyond these welllaid plans of the government, it is our stand in CPD that the lasting solution to the prevalent concern of early teen pregnancies should begin at the household level,” Bersales said.