Population and Responsible Parenthood

Group 2
Written Report

Submitted by:

Anjelaine Fritzie S. Catada

Sherene Faith B. Carampatan
Marichu D. Dapitan
Marian V. Bustamante
Hannah Cardenas
Cherub Burias

Socio 63-A
 Population and Responsible Parenthood

Report Outline

I. Introduction
A. Overview of Population and Responsible Parenthood
B. Statistics (Global to Local)

II. Population
A. Definition of Population
B. Theories of Population
a. Malthusian Theory of Growth Population
b. Marx’s Theory of Population
c. Theory of Demographic Transition
C. Overpopulation
a. Causes
i. Decline in Death Rate
ii. Better medical facilities
iii. More hands to overcome poverty
iv. Technological advancement in fertility treatment
v. Immigration
vi. Lack of family planning
b. Effects
i. Depletion of natural resources
ii. Degradation of environment
iii. Conflicts and wars
iv. Rise in unemployment
v. High cost of living
c. Solutions
i. Better education
ii. Making people aware of family planning
iii. Tax benefits or concessions
iv. Knowledge of sex education
 III. Responsible Parenthood (RP)
A. Meaning and importance of Responsible Parenthood
B. Teenage Pregnancy
C. Reproductive Health Law or RH Law (Republic Act No.10354)
D. Philippine Government’s programs and projects on RP and FP (Family Planning)
a. Family Planning
b. Birth Control

I. Introduction
II. Population
A. Definition of Population
Generally, population is a summation of all the organisms of the same group or species,
which live in a particular geographical area, and have the capability of interbreeding. But in
sociology, population refers to a collection of humans. Demography is a social science which
entails the statistical study of human populations.

Statistics

Current World Population: 7,395,373,610

Births Today: Births This year: 214,985 6,489,495

Deaths Today: Deaths this year: 90,037 2,717,710

Population Growth Today Population Growth this Year: 125,345 3,772,157

Current population of the Philippines: 102,788,947

Philippines is currently ranked 12th in the largest countries by population.

Population of Dumaguete City (as of Aug 1, 2007): 116,392
Population of Dumaguete City (as of May 1, 2010): 120,883
 B. Theories of Population

a. Malthusian Theory of Population Growth

Thomas Robert Malthus

13 February 1766 – 29 December 1834

● an English economist and a scholar

● influential in the fields of political economy and demography
● first economist to propose a systematic theory of population
● wrote a book: Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)

Thomas Malthus was a political economist and Enlightenment thinker who observed the
growing population with increasing concern. To explain poverty, dearth and famine he wrote a
famous essay at the end of the 18th century entitled An Essay on the Principle of Population. In
good Enlightenment fashion he was trying to find “natural laws”, similar to the laws of gravity
that could explain the perpetuation of poverty in the world. So these lead to his:

Malthus’ Reasoning: The biological fact that every living organism tends to multiply to an
unimaginable extent.

Malthus based his arguments on man’s two basic characteristics essential to the maintenance of
life:

● The need for subsistence

● The passion between sexes

*Subsistence- the amount of food, money, etc., that is needed to stay alive

● Between sexes: the passion between sexes that led the people to marry a relatively early
age and would result in such a large number of births that the population would double
itself in few years if unchecked by misery and vice.

An Essay on the Principle of Population (1978)

In his essay on the principle of population, Thomas Malthus argued that because of the
strong attraction of the 2 sexes, the population could increase by multiples, doubling every 25
years.
And he also contended that the population would eventually grow so large that food production
would be insufficient.

According to Malthus, the gap between the food supply and population will continue to grow
over time. Even though food supply will increase, it would still be insufficient to meet the needs
of expanding population.

The theory propounded by Malthus can be summed up in the following propositions:

(1) Population is necessarily limited by the means of subsistence (the amount of food,
money, etc., that is needed to stay alive)
● The size of the population is determined by the availability of subsistence such as food
for example.
○ The greater the food production, the greater the size of the population which can
be sustained.
(2) Population always increases when the means of subsistence increase, unless prevented by
some powerful checks.
● As the subsistence such as food supply in a country increases, the people will
produce more children and would have larger families.
 Population grows faster than food supply. Malthus basically believed that only
bad could come from population growth. He said, Population grows faster than
food supply.

When Malthus said that population increases faster than the supply of food available for its
needs. This he said was because food supply can only grow arithmetically, for example, 1 then 2
then 3-4-5-6-7-8 but, population grows geometrically 2-4-8-16-32-64. Consequently, there is no
way food supply can keep up with population growth.

(3) Preventive checks and Positive checks are the two possible checks that could limit the
growth of population.
● Preventive checks
○ voluntary actions people can take to avoid contributing to the population
○ these are checks which are applied by man through bringing down the birth rate
■ Moral Restraint
● Late marriage
● Abstinence from sexual intercourse
■ Immoral Ways
● vices
● adultery
 ● prostitution
● birth control
Moral Restraint- people resist the urge to marry and reproduce until they are capable of
supporting family.
These negative checks would include later marriages and abstinence from sexual
intercourse (Malthus was writing before widespread contraception). In this case, People would
make these decisions subconsciously as prices of necessities increased and standard of living fell.

● Positive checks
○ things that may shorten the average lifespan which rise the death rate
○ will result into Malthusian Catastrophe or Malthusian Crisis - naturally occurring
checks:
■ Disease
■ Warfare
■ Famine
■ Poor living and working environment

Malthusian Theory of Population (as a whole)

Thomas Robert Malthus argued that if left unchecked, a population will outgrow its
resources, leading to a host of problems such as overpopulation and social problems.

Criticisms:
● Failed to Foresee the Opening up of New Areas
○ Medical advances, agricultural revolution , and technology -Malthus did not
foresee the world would change in such a short period of time and how advanced
technology would influence human population growth
○ Immigration

● Preventive checks do not pertain to Moral Restraint -Malthus was essentially a religious
man who laid emphasis on normal restraint to control population. But he could not
visualize that human beings would invent contraceptives and other family planning
devices for birth control. Moral restraint alone cannot help to control the increase in
population. Family planning is essential as a preventive check.
b. Karl Marx’s Theory of Population

● argued that starvation was caused by the unequal distribution of the wealth and its
accumulation by capitalists
● he believed that the creation of a surplus population of unemployed is necessary for the
development of wealth in a capitalist basis
● Capitalism benefits by exploiting labor

c. Demographic transition theory

● developed by the American demographer Warren Thompson

● is a model describing the transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death
rates that occurs as part of the economic development of a country
● His theory explains and gives a theoretical framework for the world population growth
4 Stages in the Transition Process:

● Stage One: The Pre-Industrial Stage

- societies have high birth and death rates

- children are an economic benefit to families, reinforcing high birth rates

- children contribute to the household economy by carrying water and firewood, caring
for younger siblings, cleaning, cooking, or working in fields

- few educational opportunities

- they became adults, children become major contributors to the family income

● Stage Two: The Industrial Revolution

- countries begin to industrialize, and death rates drop rapidly

- factors that caused the decline in the death rate : improved food production and
improved

health and sanitation

● Stage Three: Post-Industrial Revolution

- birth rates fall
 - falling birth rates coincide with many other social and economic changes, such as better
access

to contraception, higher wages, urbanization and greater parental investment in the

education of children

- Increasing female literacy and employment

● Stage Four: Stabilization

- population growth stabilizes as birth rates fall into line with death rates.

- birth rates may even drop below replacement level, resulting in a shrinking population

- Death rates in developed countries may remain low or increase slightly due to lifestyle
diseases related to low exercise levels and high obesity and an aging population

C. Overpopulation

Overpopulation is an undesirable condition where the number of existing human

population exceeds the carrying capacity of Earth.

a. Causes of overpopulation:

● Decline in the Death Rate

● Better Medical Facilities
● More Hands to Overcome Poverty
● Technological Advancement in Fertility Treatment
● Immigration
● Lack of Family Planning

b. Effects of Overpopulation:

● Depletion of Natural Resources

● Degradation of Environment
● Conflicts and Wars
● Rise in Unemployment
● High Cost of Living

c. Solutions to Overpopulation:

● Better Education
● Making People Aware of Family Planning
 ● Tax Benefits or Concessions
● Knowledge of Sex Education

III. Responsible Parenthood

A. Meaning and Importance of Responsible Parenthood

Responsible Parenthood- as defined in the Directional Plan of POPCOM, is the will and
ability of parents to respond to the needs and aspirations of the family and children. It is a shared
responsibility of the husband and the wife to determine and achieve the desired number, spacing,
and timing of their children according to their own family life aspirations, taking into account
psychological preparedness, health status, socio-cultural, and economic concerns.

It simply means that being responsible of husband and wife to give and provide the
necessary needs of their children with proper spacing, number and timing.

Here is the list of the factors to consider in responsible parenthood:

1. Parental Role- it is the ability of parents to provide physical, material and continuous guidance
to their children in order for them to become responsible members of the family.

2. Emotional Adjustment- to be emotionally prepared and adjust to cope with the challenges of
life.

3. Family Relationship- to perform each role and create harmonious relationship

4. Knowledge in children rearing- educated parents are better prepared to face the challenges of
parenthood.

Importance of Responsible Parenthood

It is really important because it is the parents who first influence children. You have to be
solely responsible on your child’s health, safety and well- being. And parents teaching, guidance
and direction will influence and affect child the rest of their lives.

B. Teenage Pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is the condition of being pregnant of adolescents aged 10 to 19.

Those who are affected are the girl herself up to the national society.
 In 2012, statistics shows that Philippines is the highest rank of cases of teenage
pregnancy in the all over the world. One in ten young Filipino women age 15-19 has begun
childbearing: 8 percent are already mothers and another 2 percent are pregnant with their first
child according to the results of the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). In
addition to this, Region 7 ranks third in the Philippines with the most number of new cases of
HIV-AIDS, but only 17 in 100 youth in Central Visayas have proper knowledge of the disease.
The region ranks fourth highest in terms of premarital exposure, with one in three youth having
engaged in premarital sex.

Some of the causes of this issue are:

● The immature and irresponsible behavior arising due to complex teenage

psychology is another important cause of teenage pregnancies. Teenagers often go
through a number of emotions because of their own transition from childhood and
peer pressure.
● Lack of sexual education causes teens to get abortions as they ultimately realize
their inability to bear the responsibilities of being a parent at such a young age.
● The lack of attention and affection from family resulting in depression forces
them to seek love and support from other people, especially members of the
opposite sex.
● Overprotection gives rise to frustration and a feeling of not being loved and cared
for. Thus, balance is the key to avoid this problem. Lack of affectionate
supervision of parents or guardians results into the adolescents or teenage girls
becoming pregnant.

C. Reproductive Health Bill

RH Law informally known as the Reproductive Health Law or RH Law, it is a law which
guarantees universal access to methods of contraception, fertility control, sexual education, and
maternal care. The House and the Senate approved the measure on 3rd and final reading on
December 17 and ratified its final version on December 19 - the last day of session for 2012.

[REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10354]: AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A NATIONAL POLICY ON

RESPONSIBLE PARENTHOOD AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

* SECTION 1. Title. – This Act shall be known as “The Responsible Parenthood and
Reproductive Health Act of 2012″.

* SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. – The State recognizes and guarantees the human rights of all
persons including their right to equality and non-discrimination of these rights, the right to
sustainable human development, the right to health which includes reproductive health, the right
to education and information, and the right to choose and make decisions for themselves in
accordance with their religious convictions, ethics, cultural beliefs, and the demands of
responsible parenthood.

Elements of Reproductive Health Law

* Family planning information and services which shall include as a first priority making women
of reproductive age fully aware of their respective cycles to make them aware of when
fertilization is highly probable, as well as highly improbable;

* Maternal, infant and child health and nutrition, including breastfeeding;

* Proscription of abortion and management of abortion complications;

* Adolescent and youth reproductive health guidance and counseling;

* Prevention, treatment and management of reproductive tract infections (RTIs), HIV and AIDS
and other sexually transmittable infections (STIs);

* Elimination of violence against women and children and other forms of sexual and gender-
based violence;

* Education and counseling on sexuality and reproductive health;

* Treatment of breast and reproductive tract cancers and other gynecological conditions and
disorders;

* Male responsibility and involvement and men’s reproductive health;

* Prevention, treatment and management of infertility and sexual dysfunction;

* Reproductive health education for the adolescents; and

* Mental health aspect of reproductive health care.

D. Philippine Government’s programs and projects on Responsible Parenthood and Family

Planning

Responsible parenthood refers to the will and ability of a parent to respond to the needs
and aspirations of the family and children.
 a. Family Planning
Family planning refers to a program which enables couples and individuals to decide
freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have the information and
means to do so, and to have access to a full range of safe, affordable, effective, non-abortifacient
modem natural and artificial methods of planning pregnancy.

The Responsible Parenthood and the Family Planning program component aims to help
couples, parents and individuals to achieve their desired timing, spacing and number of children
and to contribute to the improvement of their Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health and Nutrition
status. Their programs are:

● Fund releases for the conduct of Responsible Parenting Classes in the barangays
● Partnership with MSWD in the conduct of Family Development Sessions in 4Ps areas in
the region
● Partnership with DOH in the Kalusugang Pangkalahatan through tracking of couples with
unmet need in family planning during FDS sessions
● Establishment and maintenance of an online web-based reporting system of couples
reached
● Conduct of capability building activities on Pre-Marriage Counseling for LGUs, and
other related competencies
● Development, production and dissemination of advocacy
● Observance of special population events (e.g. Natural Family Planning Week, Family
Planning Month)
What are some of the Government’s projects and programs for responsible parenthood and
family planning?

1. City health of Dumaguete is conducting barangay classes for married couples

regarding birth control and family planning.

● On how often they conduct this barangay classes depends on the budget given to
them. Budget includes the free snacks given to those who participate.
● In 2015, they conducted these classes to a total of 16 barangays.
● Day care workers often invite the city health workers to conduct informal classes
on family planning.
● Who mostly attend to these barangay classes?
● People at reproductive ages(15-49)
● Best reproductive years are in the 20s.
 ● What do they include in their classes or lectures?
● Husband and wife relationship
● duties and responsibilities of parents
Advantages of family planning to the:

Mother

● Enables her to regain her health after delivery.

● Gives enough time and opportunity to love and provide attention to her husband
and children.
Father

● Lightens the burden and responsibility in supporting his family.

● Enables him to give his children their basic needs (food, shelter, education, and
better future).
Children

● Healthy mothers produce healthy children.

● Will get all the attention, security, love, and care they deserve.

2. Annually, August is celebrated as the “Family Planning” month

● they have free pap smear at the health center and they prioritize the indigents
3. Pre-marriage counseling for pre-marriage inventory

4. Free prenatal check up every barangay with free vitamins given.

5. They used to have free implanon but due to the TRO released by the city, it was
stopped. Implanon is a small, thin, hormonal contraceptive that is implanted under the
skin and effective for up to three years.

Side effects of Implanon:

● Ectopic Pregnancy High blood pressure

● Ovarian Cysts Serious Blood Clots
● Breast Cancer Rare cancerous or noncancerous liver tumors
● Gallbladder problems
6. Health centers used to give free contraceptives until Cory Aquino’s term (Cory was a
religious person and is against such things for birth control). Now, due to health concerns
like HTI/HIV health, centers gives contraceptives from donations and DOH which is the
source of the free contraceptives funds.
b. Birth control

Birth control -is the practice of preventing unwanted pregnancies, typically by use of
contraception

Contraception- the use of artificial methods or other techniques to prevent pregnancy as a

consequence of sexual intercourse

Birth Control Methods:

● BIRTH CONTROL PILLS

How does it work: Prevents ovulation

● INJECTABLES
How does it work: Thickens the mucus in the cervix, preventing the sperm from reaching
the egg, also prevents ovulation

● IMPLANT
How does it work: Thickens the mucus in the cervix, preventing the sperm from reaching
the egg, also prevents ovulation

● CONDOMS
How does it work: By keeping semen (the fluid that contains sperm) from entering the
vagina.

● FERTILITY AWARENESS
How does it work: By taking advantage of the natural cycle of fertility. It requires an
understanding of the body’s natural ovulation cycle.

● ABSTINENCE
How does it work: no barriers or pills are necessary because the person is not having sex.
Sources:

Responsible Parenthood - Family Planning (RP-FP) Program - Brief Description (Commission

on Population (POPCOM))

Wikipedia

Source: Boundless. “Malthus' Theory of Population Growth.” Boundless Sociology. Boundless,

21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 15 Jan. 2016 from
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/population-and-
urbanization-17/population-growth-122/malthus-theory-of-population-growth-689-9631/

Malthus T.R. 1798. An Essay on the Principle of Population. Chapter 2, p 8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus

Your Article Library: Theories of Population: Malthus Theory, Marx’s Theory and Theory of
Demographic Transition by Puja Mondal

Economics Discussion: Malthusian Theory of Population: Explained with its Criticism by Tushar
Seth