Oxfam releases teenage pregnancy study

OXFAM Pilipinas has released the findings of its study on teenage pregnancy, which shows the need for Filipino society to accept the reality and the power of teen pleasure and sexuality.

“Teenage pregnancy in a predominantly Catholic country like the Philippines has always been controversial. This study seeks to better understand how the youth actually see themselves in relation to pregnancy and sexuality,” said Oxfam Pilipinas Country Director Lot Felizco. 

Based on previously released government data, while the number of Filipino teenagers giving birth overall has been on a downward trend, there is an alarming increase of births among adolescents aged 10 to 14. “There is also an increase in ‘repeat pregnancies’ among girls aged 10 to 17 years old,” said the study’s author Sabrina Gacad. However, she pointed out that the numbers do not fully reveal the situation of teenagers who face unexpected pregnancies. 

The study, supported by the UP Center for Women's and Gender Studies and Oxfam Pilipinas as part of the Sexual Health and Empowerment Project funded by the Global Affairs Canada, involved interviews with 39 Filipinas aged 15 to 24 years old from different parts of the country. All of the respondents were sexually active, while some were pregnant or had children at the time of the interview. 

The study revealed that there is an overwhelming acceptance of pregnancy among young women who had experienced it. Their reasons ranged from seeing it as a blessing to simply accepting it because it had already happened. “Pregnancy acceptability has more to do with ideas and expectations about motherhood, and the desire to make the most out of an unpleasant situation, than the circumstances around their sexual initiation,” Gacad pointed out. 

The respondents gave various reasons for their early sexual initiation, ranging from being forced or coerced to “eventually” wanting it. As the research findings pointed out, early sex and teenage pregnancies often occur amid the desire of male partners to have sex and start a family. “Power dynamics are skewed against teen girls or young women when their partners are older and employ a combination of coercive or abusive tactics,” Gacad said. 

The interviews also showed that abstinence worked only for partners who were of the same age.  “Because if you are of the same age, you have the same environment, a young person can assert their desires against a possibly assertive male partner…What is worrying is how long women can keep saying no and their wishes are respected by their partner,” Gacad said, adding that this is why institutions need to come up with ways to support young women facing such situations. 

“Without a clear and comprehensive vocabulary for their pleasures and their needs, adolescent girls and young women are unable to express consent and enforce their refusal. In taking an unexpected pregnancy to term, and in raising children, they limit their social or economic opportunities, while being expected to be good mothers who will put the well-being of their children above anything else,” she said. 

Gacad also pointed out that perhaps the government and civil society should rethink their approaches to teenage pregnancy. “It’s not enough to say that teenage pregnancy is bad. It has to align with their desire, especially since there are some people who want to get pregnant at a young age,” she said. “Maybe we don’t need to change their desire for pregnancy but instead their idea of fulfillment as a woman.”  

Gacad said teenagers should also be guided to see that there are other ways for women to be accomplished or be fulfilled. “Broadening that option for young women might change fertility preferences,” she said. 

The research author said there should also be a change in perspective among groups trying to address teenage pregnancy. “You cannot stop pregnancies just by insisting on contraceptives. If we wanted  young people to take contraceptives, we must discuss why they would need to  in the first place, which means discussing their curiosity about or desire for sexual intimacy,” Gacad stressed. 

The study concludes that there is much to be done to help young people turn their pleasure into greater power. It does not help that society refuses to accommodate teen sexuality, attraction, pleasure and desire. 

“For this power to grow, the undesirability of teen sexuality should be eliminated and the choice of teenagers to carry their pregnancies to term or prevent them completely must be met with material, health, and psycho-social support from loved ones and the public health and social welfare institutions,” the study said. (With additional reporting from The Mindanao Examiner.)