Teenage Pregnancy in the Age of Information

With the internet, almost everything is at the tip of our fingers. With just a click, you can literally find whatever you need. However, in this age of information, there are still unresolved societal issues that stem from ignorance. Despite various resources online about sex education, the number of pregnant teens continues to soar here in the Philippines.

The fact that we’re in a catholic country doesn’t seem to help. Because of religious beliefs, sex is still a taboo subject within conservative families. Without talking about it, will there be any chance to discuss about sex education?

The Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System of the Philippine Statistics Authority recorded a total of 180,916 live births among adolescents aged 10 to 19 in 2019. It is actually one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy here in Southeast Asia. Although it went down by 13% during the lockdown when interactions became restricted, we cannot expect it to last knowing that the root cause hasn’t been addressed.

Inadequate sex education and lack of access to birth control contribute to the rising number of teenage moms. The young ones involved are not solely to blame for this problem. We’ve all been teenagers and we know how gullible we can be and how curious we can get.

Our country somehow made progress with Reproductive Health Law but still, the government, both local and national, should allow contraceptives to be more accessible, even for teens. The effort of social workers to go house to house and educate these minors about safe sex should be doubled. I am not discrediting what we have now but figures show that we need more.

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Sex education online

The good thing is that it’s never too late. Nowadays, people are becoming more vocal on social media in sharing their knowledge about safe sex. Oxfam Philippines has its own TikTok account where they share awareness and educate their viewers about this matter.

Another TikTok personality that goes with the username of Nurse Dash.bee is also sharing facts about protected sex. With 3.9 million followers, she uses her platform to debunk misconceptions that lead to unplanned pregnancies. You may use the hashtags #expertok and #healthtokph to learn more.