00:00 Sara is 17 years old. She doesn't have a real name.
00:05 She said that she is not planning to get pregnant. She is afraid of it.
00:09 I don't know how I will raise her.
00:12 Because life is hard.
00:15 She said that she will consider her child as a blessing.
00:17 I can see something.
00:18 What do you see?
00:20 The things that are on the social media.
00:24 I am learning.
00:25 Like Sara, many women get pregnant early.
00:29 According to the Commission on Population and Development,
00:32 10% of women between the ages of 10 and 19 have already given birth.
00:37 From 136,302 in 2021,
00:41 to 150,138 in 2022,
00:44 when COVID restrictions were lifted and the number of children was again out.
00:49 It is alarming that the number of children has risen from 2021 to 2022.
00:54 These are children.
00:56 One of the high maternal deaths is from the young ones.
01:01 Education can be affected.
01:04 Your employment opportunities in the future are also affected.
01:07 The Department of Health is also responsible for the effects of this on the children.
01:12 Developmentally, their body is not yet ready.
01:14 The mother is not yet ready.
01:16 And if the child is pregnant, the pregnancy is very high risk.
01:20 Because the body is not yet ready.
01:22 The ability of the woman's body to carry the child in the womb is not yet ready.
01:29 Based on the World Bank data,
01:31 there are more than 48 women giving birth to every 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 19
01:37 every year in the Philippines.
01:39 Higher than the average adolescent birth rate of 44 in the whole world
01:44 and 33.5 in the whole Asian region.
01:48 In ASEAN, the Philippines is the second with the highest birth rate every year in 2021.
01:53 The reason why some women give birth early is because of the same reason.
01:58 It is because of the exposure to the media.
02:01 In fact, according to the Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study of 2021,
02:06 18% of Filipino youth are exposed to pornographic and sexually explicit content.
02:14 Our parents are busy.
02:16 At the same time, the parents are not comfortable to talk about sexuality with their children.
02:22 So parents should be prepared to be the first sexuality educator of their children.
02:28 Values within the family, parental guidance, peer pressure, your ability to say no.
02:36 That's why the Commission on Population and Development is calling
02:40 we are calling on all players to make adolescent pregnancy an urgent national priority.
02:46 We are also calling for the passage of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill.
02:51 For GMA Integrated News, Maris Umali for Tutok, 24 Hours.
02:56 [MUSIC]
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