Politics

What Is So Shocking About the PH Anti-Teen Pregnancy Bill?

President Bongbong Marcos dials back on an earlier statement in support of the bill, calling it a “travesty” for provisions that Senator Risa Hontiveros clarifies are not included in the proposed legislation

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Senator Risa Hontiveros, author of the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2023. Photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau

On Monday, January 20, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that he was “shocked” and “appalled” by the provisions of the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2023, particularly about what he calls “woke absurdities” like “teaching four-year-olds how to masturbate” and “every child’s right to try different sexualities” — both claims that the bill’s co-author Senator Risa Hontiveros says are not even part of the legislation. 

“Nakakagulat at nakakagalit ang mga kasinungalingan na kumakalat sa social media laban sa panukalang batas na ito,” Hontiveros said. “We all want what’s best for our children, but outright lies, misinformation, disinformation, and promoting fear can lead to more harmful decisions about our teen’s lives.”

The president says that he would not allow the bill to pass into law. “If this bill is passed in that form, I guarantee all parents, teachers, and children, I will immediately veto it,” he said.

“This is ridiculous. It is abhorrent. It is a travesty of what sexual and sex education should be to the children,” the president said while maintaining that it is important to educate children on the consequences of early pregnancy and the prevalence of HIV.

The president also lamented the role of parents in the comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) program that the bill proposes. “What about the parents? Wala na silang karapatan na sila ang mag-decide kung ano at kailan tuturuan ‘yong bata.”

Marcos’ recent comment on the Anti-Adolescent Pregnancy bill is a change of tune from earlier remarks. On Friday, January 17, he said that CSE was “very, very, very important” in preventing teenage pregnancy cases and that adolescents should be “knowledgeable about what are the options that are truly available to us, and what the consequences are of having a child too soon.”

Stoking Fear Through Disinformation

The Anti-Adolescent Pregnancy bill provides for an “age and development-appropriate” CSE that tackles adolescent reproductive health, disease prevention, informed consent, gender-based violence, hygiene, women and children’s rights, peer pressure, and digital citizenship, among many other topics.

The bill — a copy of which is accessible to the public through the Senate’s official website — also provides for the involvement of parents in their children’s CSE, aiming to help parents “guide, counsel, and provide support to their adolescent children in concerns and decisions related to their sexual and reproductive health.”

Senator Hontiveros released a video statement on social media on Monday, addressing the president’s woes about the bill, which she co-authored with Senators Imee Marcos, Sonny Angara, Bong Revilla, and Bong Go.

“Mr. President, with all due respect, maliwanag na wala po sa bill kahit ang salita na ‘masturbation.’ Wala din po ‘yong ‘try different sexualities,’” Hontiveros said pertaining to what the National Coalition for the Family and the Constitution (NCFC)’s Project Dalisay — a campaign against the Anti-Adolescent Pregnancy bill — claims is part of the proposed CSE program.

NCFC is chaired by Former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and religious leaders Bishop Dan Balais and Bishop Peter Tanchi. The coalition aims to “provide and promote alternative sex education that respects the divine institution of marriage, upholds the family as the fundamental unit of society, and ensures that our youth are seen as not only physical beings, but moral and spiritual, first and foremost.”

Maria Lourdes Sereno saying the 1987 Constitution was designed to be pro-God and pro-family.
In a video for Project Dalisay, Sereno says that the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2023 is unconstitutional because the constitution was designed to be “pro-God and pro-family.” Photo from Project Dalisay Facebook

In a statement released on Thursday, January 16, Sereno said that the NCFC is “definitely not fear-mongering.” Instead, the coalition is “sounding the alarm” on the bill, as they claim it implies that the country is open to concepts of CSE, including childhood masturbation.

Hontiveros, in her statement, added that the proposed CSE program addresses the president’s concerns regarding sex education for children. “CSE contains the very same things you support: teaching kids anatomy, the consequences of early pregnancy. ‘Yan po ang atin ding isinusulong.”

Despite these contentions, Hontiveros said she is willing to accept amendments to the bill to “steer it to passage.”

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