PBBM to read new version of teenage pregnancy prevention bill

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos, Philippine News Agency

Under the substitute bill, access to health services should be “responsive and sensitive to the particular needs of the adolescent.” (Pexels Photo)

MANILA – President Ferdinand Marcos R. Jr. on Thursday said he has to read first the new version of Senate Bill (SB) 1979 or the proposed Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act before he reconsiders the proposal which mandates the implementation of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) Program.

The President’s statement was in response to a media query as to whether he would change his stance on the teenage pregnancy bill, which he earlier said contains “woke” elements inappropriate for young children.

“I need to read the substitute bill first,” Marcos said, as quoted by Presidential Communications Office Acting Secretary Cesar Chavez.

While Marcos expressed support for the CSE, he expressed objections to the “ridiculous” and “abhorrent” provisions of SB 1979.

In a media interview in Taguig City on Monday, Marcos said he was “shocked” and “appalled” by some of the bill’s provisions, which remove parental consent from the CSE and teach children as young as four years old how to masturbate.

Marcos said he would immediately veto the measure if it is “passed in that form.”

Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, who authored and sponsored the bill, filed Wednesday a substitute measure for SB 1979 following concerns raised by various groups and the withdrawal of support from at least seven senators.

Hontiveros amended Section 5 of the proposed measure, which earlier allowed all adolescents to have “easy” access to health facilities, goods and services “without discrimination and without the need for parental consent.”

Under the substitute bill, access to health services should be “responsive and sensitive to the particular needs of the adolescent.”

Section 6 of SB 1979 also makes the CSE a compulsory, part of the education, integrating it “at all levels with the end goal of normalizing discussions about adolescent sexuality and reproductive health and to remove stigma at all levels.”

It also requires the standardization and implementation of CSE in all public and private basic education institutions, integrating the program into the school curriculum, guided by the Department of Education and international standards.

The new bill removes the phrase “guided by international standards” and stresses that the CSE Program should include “comprehensive, age- and developmentally-appropriate information affecting the reproductive health and sexuality of adolescents.

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Section 7 of the substitute bill also requires parental or guardian’s consent to give minors under 16 access to sexual and reproductive health information and services.

According to Section 11 of the new bill, the government may also enter partnerships with the private sector to promote CSE.