Duterte EO declares teenage pregnancy prevention a national priority
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has made the implementation of measures designed to address the root causes of the rising number of teenage pregnancies a national priority, saying the problem causes the normalizing of violence against women and children.
Under Executive Order No. 141 signed by the president last June 25, the state shall mobilize existing coordinative and legal mechanisms to prevent adolescent pregnancies.
The order also seeks to strengthen adolescents' capacity to make autonomous and informed decisions about their reproductive health by ensuring access to comprehensive sexuality education and reproductive health and rights services.
"The state acknowledges that at the root of the rising number of adolescent pregnancies are engendered patterns of discrimination, deep-seated norms, and attitudes that normalize and justify violence against women and children, lack of information and education, and the vulnerability and exclusion of women and children living in remote and rural areas," the order read.
"It is imperative to carefully coordinate, rationalize, monitor, and assess the efforts of concerned government agencies and instrumentalities to ensure a whole-of-government approach in implementing measures to curb the rising number of teenage pregnancies," it added.
The order cited a January 2020 policy brief by the United Nations Population Fund Philippines which stated that out of all live births within the adolescent age group, only three percent is fathered by men of the same age group, and that such pregnancies "may be a result of coercion and unequal power relations between girls and older men."
It also mentioned a 2016 study by the United Nations Population Fund Philippines which stated that adolescents lose an aggregate lifetime earnings of about P33 billion because of early childbearing.
Duterte ordered all agencies and instrumentalities to identify and implement as far as practicable interventions related to the prevention of adolescent pregnancies like comprehensive sexuality education, education and employment opportunities for young people, and health promotion through media and communications.
All agencies were also instructed to maximize the use of digital and online platforms to reach young people and raise awareness on the protection and promotion of reproductive health and rights.
The order encouraged local youth councils or Sangguniang Kabataan to develop interventions to arrest and prevent all known causes of adolescent pregnancies and support adolescent mothers.
They are also instructed to identify and implement programs, activities, and projects and allocate a portion of their budget to educate the youth on adolescent sexual and reproductive health, provide youth-friendly and rights-based measures to support pregnant girls and young mothers to continue their education, and formulate retention strategies and life skills programs for pregnant girls and young mothers.
The National Youth Council was directed to establish a forum for continuing dialogue between the government and the youth sector on the proper planning and evaluation of policies, programs and projects affecting young people.
The Population Commission, meanwhile, will continue to educate leaders, parents, and other community members about evidence-based strategies to reduce adolescent pregnancy and improve adolescent reproductive health.
Duterte also ordered the budget department to ensure that the annual national expenditure program would include initiatives for the prevention of adolescent pregnancies in the annual budget priorities framework and its guidelines.
The human development and poverty reduction cabinet cluster shall report to the Office of the President the mechanisms designed to implement the policy within 60 days from the issuance of the order.
- Latest
- Trending
