Measure that will prevent teenage pregnancy filed in Congress

Alarmed over the rapid increase of teen pregnancies, a neophyte solon filed a bill that can at least minimize the growth of statistics if not totally eradicated.

House Bill 337 also known as Teen Pregnancy Prevention, Responsibility and Opportunity Act penned by Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones will automatically disseminate information on the bad effects of teen pregnancies and how it can be prevented.

"Too-early childbearing increases the livelihood that a young woman will drop out of high school and that she and her child will live in poverty," Aragones said in her explanatory note.

The young solon claims that based on statistics her staff gathered, the sons of teen mothers are more likely to end up in prison while daughters of teen mothers are more likely to end up teen mothers too.

According to Aragones, teens that grow up in disadvantage economic, social and familial circumstances are more likely to engage in risk behavior and have a child during adolescence.

She said that teens with strong emotional attachments to their parents are more likely to become sexually active at a later age.

"Seven out of 10 teens say that they are prepared to listen to things parents thought they were not ready to hear," the former news gatherer turned newsmaker said.

Another study, she said, that the likelihood of teens having sex for the first time increased with the number of unsupervised hour teens have during the week.

After school programs reduce teen risky behavior by involving teens in activities that provide alternative to sex, the study further revealed.

"Teenage girls who play sports, for instance, are more likely to delay sex and have fewer partners and less likely to become pregnant," Aragones explained.

She pointed out that after school programs help prevent teen pregnancy by advancing good decision-making skills and providing teens health education and positive role models in a supervised setting.

"In order to address the increasing incidence to teenage pregnancies, there is a need to institute projects to provide education on preventing teenage pregnancies," she stressed.

The bill likewise authorized the Secretary of Health make grants to local educational agencies, local public health agencies and non-profit private entities for the purpose of carrying out projects to provide education on preventing teen pregnancies.

In making grants, the secretary shall give preference to applicant that will carry out the projects in communities for which the rate of teen pregnancy is significantly above the average rate in the Philippines of such pregnancies.

The secretary is oblige to to submit to Congress a report describing the extent of in reducing the rate of teen pregnancies in the communities in which the projects have been carried out. (PNA)