What makes the topic global or international issue?

Teenage pregnancy is an issue that must be addressed because it endangers the health of the conceiving
women and the children they carry, it makes unprepared women be responsible for a human being, and
it is a dominating factor in overpopulation and poverty. Pregnant teenagers who choose to carry their
children will most likely drop out of school which will narrow their economic prospects and they will
eventually succumb to poverty (Mangel, 2010). The increase in uncontrolled pregnancies will most likely
add to the already dense population and this will not stop even after the carrying capacity is met.
Teenage pregnancy is a global issue because numerous countries around the world is experiencing its
numbers and effects. Even before the pandemic, teenage pregnancy has been a problem for many
countries, especially conservative ones, due to lack of education or the unwillingness to educate the
youth due to the fear of pushing them into experiencing sexual acts. However, this unwillingness
brought out the opposite effect and instead, the teenagers are exploring on their own about sexual acts
and intercourse. Due to the lack of education, they don’t know about contraceptives, the dangers of
sexual acts, and what might result from these acts. This leads to the overwhelming number of teenage
pregnancies all over the world. In this pandemic where everyone has a large amount of free time, this
number has been constantly rising all over the globe and unless their respective governments give
feasible solutions, then the numbers will only keep on rising. (Rühl & Mcclafferty, 2020)

How did our country experience this issue or problem?

The Philippines is a Christian nation and Christianity promotes conservativeness and purity. This
means that anything about sexual acts will most likely be omitted in social groups and
institutions (Perez, 2017). This leads to the lack of sex education and educators for teenagers.
This was what happened to the Philippines. Only a limited number of people was willing to
teach the young children about sex education so the children opted looking for the answers
themselves. According to the 2019 Save the Children End of childhood report, teenage
pregnancy has affected 5.9% of girls aged 15-19 years old in the Philippines before the
pandemic. This number is the second highest in Southeast Asia after Laos who had a 6.33
percentage. Therefore, teenage pregnancy has been declared as a National Social Emergency by
Ernesto Pernia who is the former National Economic and Development Authority Secretary of
the Philippines. The global report cited that 1.2 million adolescents are having babies yearly,
with some being as young as 10 years old and it also cited that adolescents from poor
households are more likely to become pregnant than adolescents from middle class or rich
households. According to Health and Nutrition adviser of Save the Children Philippines Dr.
Amado Parawan, early pregnancy has been one of the leading causes of premature deaths of
young women aged 15-19 because their bodies have still not fully developed to handle the
stress of pregnancy and childbirth. In the “Global Girlhood 2020: COVID-19 and Progress in
Peril” report, data showed that there will be an increase of 2.5 million girls at risk of child
marriage and teenage pregnancy is anticipated to have an increase of one million due to the
economic and social impacts of COVID-19.
Conclusion: Marianne Jane G. Palima- In order to solve teenage pregnancy, education is a
necessity. Educating youths about the perils of teenage pregnancy, safe sex, contraceptives,
and basically anything that is under sex education can make them more aware and give them
more choices. Because without proper sex education, many children and youth are forced to
learn through porn, experimentation, and gossip which can warp their understanding of sex and
can make them vulnerable to abusive relationships and grooming. Guidance from the guardians
and parents of these youths and children are also needed because whenever the youths and
children are curious about sexual acts, these guardians and parents can explain to them what
that is and make them understand that it is still too early for them to experience it or when
they are ready for it, they have to use contraception. Because these little advices and reminders
can stay in their children’s minds because the children will feel as though they are being trusted
by their parents and they don’t want to lose their trust so they will always be careful when
doing sexual acts. Silence and opposition from parents can only backfire and instead, unleash
the rebellious side of their children which will make them do more risky things and this
highlights the importance of good parental guidance.

Bibliography
Global Girlhood 2020: COVID-19 and Progress in Peril. (n.d.). Retrieved from Save the Children:
https://www.savethechildren.org.ph/our-work/our-stories/story/girls-bear-harshest-effects-of-
covid19-pandemic/

Mangel, L. (2010, October 25). Teen Pregnancy, Discrimination, and the Dropout Rate. Retrieved from
ACLU Washington: https://www.aclu-wa.org/blog/teen-pregnancy-discrimination-and-dropout-
rate

Perez, D. (2017, February 7). The taboo on sex stems from Christian values. Retrieved from Panther Now:
http://panthernow.com/2017/02/07/the-taboo-on-sex-stems-from-christian-values/

Rühl, B., & Mcclafferty, E. (2020, October 14). World in Progress: Rising teenage pregnancies during
COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved from DW Made for minds: https://www.dw.com/en/world-in-
progress-rising-teenage-pregnancies-during-covid-19-pandemic/av-55275316