ALFI RH ISSUE PAPERS

ISSUE PAPER # 7: Adolescent Reproductive

Rights
SEC. 2.- Declaration of Policy.-Moreover, the State recognizes and guarantees
the promotion of gender equality, equity and women’s empowerment as a health and
human rights concern. The advancement and protection of women’s human rights shall
be central to the efforts of the State to address reproductive health care. As a distinct but
inseparable measure to the guarantee of women’s human rights, the State recognizes
and guarantees the promotion of the welfare and rights of children.

SEC. 3.Guiding Principles. -This Act declares the following as guiding

principles:
(a) Freedom of choice, which is central to the exercise of right must be fully
guaranteed by the State;
(b) Respect for, protection and fulfillment of reproductive health and rights
seek to promote the rights and welfare of couples, adult individuals, women and
adolescents;
(n) That a comprehensive reproductive health program addresses the needs
of people throughout their life cycle.

SEC. 4.Definition of Terms. -Adolescence refers to the period of physical and

physiological development of an individual from the onset of puberty to complete growth
and maturity which usually begins between 11 to 13 years and terminating at 18 to 20
years of age;
Adolescent Sexuality refers to, among others, the reproductive system, gender
identity, values and beliefs, emotions, relationships and sexual behavior at adolescence;
SEC. 16.Mandatory Age-Appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality
Education. - Age-appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education shall be
taught by adequately trained teachers in formal and non-formal education system starting
from Grade Five up to Fourth Year High School using life skills and other approaches.
Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education shall commence at the start of the school
year immediately following one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act to allow the training
of concerned teachers. The Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on
Higher Education (CHED), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA), the DSWD, and the DOH shall formulate the Reproductive Health and
Sexuality Education curriculum. Such curriculum shall be common to both public and
private schools, out of school youth, and enrollees in the Alternative Learning System
(ALS) based on, but not limited to, the psycho-social and the physical wellbeing, the
demography and reproductive health, and the legal aspects of reproductive health.
Age-appropriate reproductive health and sexuality education shall be integrated
in all relevant subjects and shall include, but not limited to, the following topics:
(a) Values formation;
(b) Knowledge and skills in self-protection against discrimination, sexual
violence and abuse, and teen pregnancy;
(c) Physical, social and emotional changes in adolescents;
(d) Children’s and women’s rights;
(e) Fertility awareness;
(f) STI, HIV and AIDS;
(g) Population and development;
RH ISSUE PAPER # 7: ADOLESCENT REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
(h) Responsible relationship;
(i) Family planning methods;
(j) Proscription and hazards of abortion;
(k) Gender and development; and
(l) Responsible parenthood.
The DepEd, CHED, DSWD, TESDA, and DOH shall provide concerned parents
with adequate and relevant scientific materials on the age-appropriate topics and manner
of teaching reproductive health education to their children.
Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education refers to a lifelong learning
process of providing and acquiring complete, accurate and relevant information and
education on reproductive health and sexuality through life skills education and other
approaches;

Beyond sexuality education HB 4244 is an attempt to lay down the grounds to

guarantee adolescents right to reproductive health. This emerges in the last sentence
of paragraph 1 of Section 1:“As a distinct but inseparable measure to the guarantee of
women’s human rights, the State recognizes and guarantees the promotion of the
welfare and rights of children.”And further developed in Section 2 b) where “Respect for,
protection and fulfillment of reproductive health and rights seek to promote the rights and
welfare of couples, adult individuals, women and adolescents;” These two statements contain
the real objective of the Sexuality Education described in Section 16.

It should be noted that when the term Adolescent Reproductive Health is evoked its
complete definition according to the Cairo ICPD document will read “Adolescent Reproductive
Health – the state of physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and
processes. This implies that adolescentsare able to have a satisfying and safe sex life, that
they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do
so, provided that these are not against the law. This further implies that women and men are
afforded equal status in matters related to sexual relations and reproduction.”Giving adolescent
these rights will effectively remove from the right to form and educate their children in matters
related to sexuality!

A close look at the Dep Ed materials for sex education shows that the curriculum
pertaining a)-d) of Section 16 Mandatory Age-Appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality
Education. This type of comprehensive sex education envisions a regime of teen-age sex rule.
Its underlying philosophy assumes that once teenagers acquire a formal body of sex knowledge
and skills, along with proper contraceptive technology they will be able to govern their own
sexual behavior responsibly.

A major research study for the Centers for Disease Control done by Douglas Kirby on
the effectiveness of sex-education programs in the US came up with the following finding:

 Students who take sex education do know more about such matters as menstruation,
intercourse, contraception, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases than students who
do not.
 However, accurate knowledge does not have a measurable impact on sexual behavior. Sex
education has little effect on teenagers' decisions to engage in or postpone sex, nor does it
significantly reduce teenage pregnancy. Though teenagers who learn about contraception
RH ISSUE PAPER # 7: ADOLESCENT REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

may be more likely to use ittheir contraceptive practices tend to be irregular and therefore
ultimately unreliable.
 Comprehensive sex education assumes that knowledge acquired at earlier ages will
influence behavior. Yet the empirical evidence suggests that younger teenagers, especially,
are unlikely to act on what they know. An analysis of a Planned Parenthood survey
concludes that a "knowledgeable thirteen-year-old is no more likely to use contraceptives
than is an uninformed thirteen-year-old." As Kirby puts it, "Ignorance is not the solution, but
knowledge is not enough."
 Sex education does appear to diminish teenagers' shyness about discussing sexual matters
with their parents than those who have not. Since talking with their mothers about sex may
help some girls avoid pregnancy, this is a mildly positive effect. There does not seem to be a
parallel effect for boys, however.
 Overall, parent-child communication is far less important in influencing sexual behavior than
parental discipline and supervision. One study, based on teenagers' own reports of levels of
parental control, shows that teenagers with moderately strict parents had the lowest level of
sexual activity, whereas teens with very strict parents had higher levels, and those with very
permissive parents had the highest levels. Moreover, there is a strong empirical relationship
between diminished parental supervision and early sexual activity.
 In boy-girl communication, girls say that they want help in rejecting boys' sexual overtures.
In a survey taken in the mid-1980s, 1,000 teenage girls aged sixteen and younger were
asked to select from a list of more than twenty sex-related topics those areas where they
would like more information and help. The girls were most likely to say they wanted more
information on how to say no without hurting boys' feelings.
 There is no evidence to support the claim that noncoital sex, with or without communication,
will reduce the likelihood of coitus. In fact, several studies show just the opposite.
Outercourse is a precursor of intercourse.
 Teaching decision-making skills is not effective, either, in influencing teenage sexual
behavior. There is little empirical support to the claim that responsible sexual behavior
depends on long years of sexual schooling. In fact, the evidence points in the opposite
direction. Math and reading do require instruction over a period of time, but sex education
may be most effective at a key developmental moment. This is not in grade school but in
middle school, when pre-teens are hormonally gearing up for sex but are still mainly
uninitiated.
 Postponing Sexual Involvement and similarly designed sex-education programs offer this
useful insight: formal sex education is perhaps most successful when it reinforces the
behavior of abstinence among young adolescents who are practicing that behavior. Its
effectiveness diminishes significantly when the goal is to influence the behavior of teenagers
who are already engaging in sex.

These research findings show that far from inculcating responsible sexual behavior
among adolescents comprehensive sex education’s mission is to destroy the right of parents to
educate their children in sexual matters in order to extend the freedom of the sexual revolution
to adolescents.