Ex-reporter Sol Aragones files House bill vs teen pregnancy

MANILA, Philippines - Media practitioner-turned-legislator Sol Aragones has filed a bill at the House of Representatives seeking to stop the increase of teen pregnancies in the country.

Aragones, the third district representative of Laguna, filed House Bill 337 also known as Teen Pregnancy Prevention, Responsibility and Opportunity Act that will automatically disseminate information on the bad effects of teen pregnancies and how it can be prevented.

“Too-early childbearing increases the likelihood that a young woman will drop out of high school and that she and her child will live in poverty,” Aragones said in her explanatory note.

The neophyte lawmaker claims that based on statistics her staff gathered, the sons of teen mothers are more likely to end up in prison while daughters of teen mothers are more likely to end up as teen mothers too.

She said teens that grow up in disadvantageous economic, social and familial circumstances are more likely to engage in risk behavior and have a child during adolescence.

Teens with strong emotional attachments to their parents are more likely to become sexually active at a later age, according to Aragones.

“Seven out of 10 teens say that they are prepared to listen to things parents thought they were not ready to hear,” the former reporter said.

Her measure would also authorize the health secretary to make grants to local educational and public health agencies and non-profit private entities for the purpose of carrying out projects to provide education on teen pregnancy prevention.