As stated by Brown and Amankwaa (2007) “As more female college students are involved in

sexual relationships their risk of conception increases. However, when pregnancy occurs it is
only the woman who bears the burden and risk of the pregnancy and in most cases child care.“
often these types of pregnancy are unplanned or planned caring for a child becomes a full time
job. Having a child while being a student becomes stressful because child rearing consumes
time and energy, with a few exeptions the women are the primary care giver of the child. (
Hofferth, Reid, & Mott, 2001 as cited by Brown &Amankwaa, 2007). According to Kidwell (2004),
rearing a child while being s full-time student may be daunting and difficult however, it will be
easier if she has a partner or a family member who can help her in taking care of the child.

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/health-and-social-care/teenage-pregnancy-study-philippines-
4836.php

They say numbers don’t lie. According to the most recent National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS
2017) from the Department of Health (DOH), the incidence of teenage or adolescent pregnancies remains at a
considerable rate. Overall, some nine percent of women from the age of 15 to 19 have already started
childbearing.

Compared to the past NDHS, which was conducted way back in 2013, this figure is actually lower, albeit only
by one percent. In fact, on global scale, teenage birth rates have gone down from 6.5 percent in 1990, to 4.7
percent in 2015.

It’s a glimmer of hope that the government or private institutions and non-government agencies — or a
combination of these — are doing something to keep the numbers down. But the one percent difference from
2013 to 2017 could also be just a negligible fluke in statistics, one that comes expected in any survey.

But compared to the overall adolescent pregnancy rates in Southeast Asia, the average rate in the Philippines is
almost twice as high. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 4.5 percent of teenage girls
in Southeast Asia have already given birth. In the Philippines, seven percent of teenage girls have already
given birth at least once. This higher incidence rate may be indicative of a growing adolescent pregnancy
problem in the country.

Regardless of the reason, this one percent difference isn’t really that much of a hope when one considers the
other data. For instance, there remains a clear connection between teenage pregnancy and education. The
former is also considered by many experts to be a symptom of poverty. Of the teenage girls pregnant in 2017,
26.2 percent finished primary education, while only four percent had gone to college. Furthermore, there are
more cases of teenage girls getting pregnant in rural areas than in urban centers.

These numbers echo the findings of the WHO: “Adolescent pregnancies are a global problem that occurs in
high, middle, and low income countries. Around the world, adolescent pregnancies are more likely to occur in
marginalized communities, commonly driven by poverty and lack of education and employment
opportunities,” the report reads.

Interestingly enough, the province of Davao has the highest percentage of teenage births at 15.9 percent,
followed by the SOCCSKSARGEN region with 11.8 percent.

At any rate, there is one thing that’s undeniably obvious here: that there are still young Filipino women who
are getting pregnant at such a young age. This translates to women who are forced to either stop their
education and raise a child, or in what’s arguably a worse case, find illegitimate means to terminate their
pregnancies.
For Sen. Risa Hontiveros, teenage pregnancy is an issue that needs to be solved fast. Recognizing the problem
early on, the National Youth Commission (NYC) had previously conducted a National Summit on Teen
Pregnancy back in 2014. More recently, however, these youth gatherings that tackle the issue of adolescent
pregnancy seem to have been limited to the regional level, with respective regional NYC offices working with
the DOH. There is still a lot that needs to be done to address the issue.

“Because of this,” the senator continued, “I filed a bill in the Senate that aims to solve the problem of teenage
pregnancy. Senate Bill no. 1482, more commonly known as “An Act Providing for a National Policy on
Preventing Teenage Pregnancies, Institutionalizing Social Protection for Teenage Parents, and Providing
Funds Therefor” seeks to decrease teenage pregnancy incidence. This bill will allow for the development of a
comprehensive education for our youth. It should be age and development appropriate, and should be made
mandatory in all schools. This education should be medically accurate and should not promote discrimination.”

https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/05/13/the-pregnant-teen-a-growing-problem/

One of the reasons why teenagers are already aware with this topic is because of media. They get
a higher knowledge to sex from the magazines, TV shows, internet, movies and other media. In
television, they now also create and make shows about teen pregnancy like “Teen Moms” and “16
and Pregnant”. These shows make us realize that the rate of this problem is getting higher and it is
getting usual. There are a lot of reported cases regarding teenage pregnancy since the past few
years until now.

According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), teenage pregnancy has a huge rate in the
Philippines, especially among the poor. 2/3 of Filipinos, who give birth before age 20, belongs to the
low class society. Data from the National Statistics Office showed that 8 percent among 1.7 million
babies born in 2004 were born to mothers 15-19 years old. Young mother gave birth to 818,000
babies in 2000 alone. This means, almost one of every 10 babies is born to teenage mothers. The
risk is, almost 10 percent of the born babies from young mothers are malnourished. As years passed
by, the statistics are getting higher. According to the study done by the Population Institute of the
University of the Philippines, more than 46 percent of teenage pregnant woman resort to induced
abortion which is against the law and the Church; 2 of every 5 teenage pregnancies are unwanted
ones. If the government won’t start acting on this, this problem will be worse as years goes by.

https://youthproblemsinthephilippines.weebly.com/teenage-pregnancy.html