Teen pregnancy bill passage urged
POPULATION groups on Thursday asked senators to approve the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention bill before Congress adjourns this month, saying teen pregnancies are a major barrier to human development.
“If the government can only optimize its working age population by employing them or utilizing human capital, they can accelerate socioeconomic development,” Lolito R. Tacardon, deputy executive director of the Commission on Population and Development, told a forum.
“Teenage pregnancy is one of the barriers to human capital development, and its impact is not only immediate; it has a lifelong implication.”
Data from the local statistics agency showed that the number of live births among girls aged 14 and below jumped by 35.13% to 3,135 in 2022 from a year earlier. Live births by women aged 19 and below rose by 10.15% to 150,138.
The Philippines loses P33 billion in potential income annually due to teen pregnancy, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said in a 2020 study. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz