Senator Sherwin Gatchalian warned Wednesday that teenage pregnancy rate in the Philippines could spike amid the COVID-19 crisis.
“Matagal nang hamon sa ating pigilan ang pagdami ng kaso ng maagang pagbubuntis ngunit dahil sa COVID-19, nanganganib na mas dumami pa ang mga kabataang kababaihan na maging batang ina at huminto sa pag-aaral,” Gatchalian, chair of the Senate committee on basic education, said in a statement.
(It has been a challenge for us to prevent the increase in early pregnancy cases, but because of COVID-19, young women are becoming more and more likely to become young mothers and stop studying.)
“Ngayon natin dapat mas patatagin ang mga programa laban sa maagang pagbubuntis upang hindi mapagkaitan ang ating mga kabataan ng magandang kinabukasan,” Gatchalian added.
(Now is the time to strengthen our anti-pregnancy programs further so as not to deprive our young people of a better future.)
Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) reported in February that teenage pregnancy incidence among girls aged 10 to 14 is increasing. The agency recorded a 63% percent increase in the number of the said group age giving birth, comparing data from 2011 and 2018.
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Teenage pregnancy amid COVID-19 pandemic
POPCOM earlier urged couples to practice family planning to avoid unplanned pregnancies during the lockdown.
“We are uncertain as to when the health emergency caused by COVID-19 will abate. As such, we do not want to add on to the current situation with another possible crisis caused by unplanned pregnancies, as they could bear added weight to our already strained medical institutions,” POPCOM chief Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez III said in a statement.
Gatchalian said teenagers could also be part of a possible “population surge” after the COVID-19 crisis.
The senator cited that 23.5% of teenage girls in Eastern Visayas got pregnant after Typhoon Yolanda in 2013. Over 14% had another child the following year.
He also used the case in Sierra Leone, where there was a 65% spike in adolescent pregnancy during the Ebola outbreak.
Local government units should improve their programs to raise awareness of teenage pregnancy prevention and help young people stay in school, the senator added.