Sex education for teenagers has been added to the raging debates on a number of social legislation measures currently pending before Congress.
Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones said discussions on sex education for teenagers are a significant factor in preventing teenage pregnancies that affects 200,000 girls annually.
“We can prevent cases of teenage pregnancy if all of us will act and talk about sex education as adults,” stated Aragones as she filed House Bill 2297 or the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act.
Co-authored by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, the bill may spark public debates as it did when it was reportedly included and later excluded as a provision of the Reproductive Health Law.
So far, intense public debates have been triggered by the filing of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and
Expression bill and the proposed measure prohibiting teachers from giving out home work and assignments to students.
Currently the chairperson of the House Committee on Tourism, Aragones used to head the House Committee on Population and Family Relations.
In filing the bill, Aragones underscored the need to establish an inter-agency national policy to prevent teenage pregnancies and to institutionalize social protection for parents who are in their teens.
“Underaged and unmarried youth continue to have limited access to sex education and adolescent sexual and reproductive health services. We have to provide them proper information because a poor understanding of reproductive health can have adverse affects on the lives of our youth,” said the third-term legislator. (Ben Rosario)