Thesis:

Along with the technological advancement is the rampant promotion of pornographic

materials on print and broadcast media and internet which misinformed the youths about sex.
People may have different opinions about the issue at hand: some will agree, but some will also
disagree. Whatever views these people have, the fact remains that technological advancement
has become a convenient avenue in making pornographic materials within reach to many,
including teenagers, which may proliferate teenage pregnancy. Let me cite some articles that
discuss issues about pornographic materials as contributory factor to teenage pregnancy.
Rampant promotion of pornographic materials on print and broadcast media and internet
Domini Torrevillas in his article Teenage Pregnancy on the Rise (Torrevillas, 2013)
stated that pornographic materials like Playboy, Penthouse, and other sexy publications have
been readily available to teenagers. He also added that even for-adults-only videos have been
within reach to them. Unfortunately, their exposure to these pornographic materials on print and
broadcast media and internet do not do them any good which leads to their early engagement into
sex.
Henrylito Tacio in his article entitled The alarming rise of teenage pregnancy (Tacio,
2011) cited Roman Catholic Bishop, Reynaldo Evangelista of the Diocese of Boac in
Marinduque who attributed the bourgeoned pubertal pregnancy in the Philippines on the
proliferation of sex in the mass media and internet. He added that Evangelista noted that the
propagation of sex-related materials is due to the lack of strict implementation of censorship.
Rebecca D. Singson, in her article entitled Teen pregnancies in the Philippines,
(Singson, 2008) said that many of the Filipino adolescents are now more exposed to sex from
different media like the internet, magazines, television programs, and cinemas than several years
ago. Unfortunately, they have limited grasp on how to process what they have seen or read in
such a way that these will guide them accordingly about the disadvantages of premarital sex,
instead of resulting to sexual misinformation and leading to unwanted pregnancy.
Number of pubescent gravidity
Statistics show that pubescent gravidity has increased significantly all over the world. For
instance, Torrevillas (2013) reported that the data from the United Nations Population Fund
Association show that 14-16 million female youngsters with age range of 15-19 become
young mothers every year. In the Philippines, figures have also significantly increased by 70% in
ten years time. More specifically, records reveal that total teen pregnancy increased from
114,205 in 1999 to 195,662 in 2009. He added data from the National Youth Commission reveal
that Philippines is among the highest in the ASEAN region and the only country where the rate
is increasing. This alarming condition has prompted UNFPA to declare July 11 as annual
celebration of World Population Day which aims to address this pressing concern.

In addition, Tacio (2011) recounted that in 1998, the National Demographic and Health
Survey (NDHS) released data showing that in 92% of 3.6 million girls ended up with unwanted
pregnancy and 78% did not use contraceptives when they had their first sexual experience,
oblivious of the consequence of the sexual act. He also reported that 26% of the Filipino teens
confessed to have premarital sex encounter.
Similarly, Singson (2008) presented the same NDHS data earlier than Tacio did in 2013.
The difference is that she enriched her data by including the United States figures showing that
almost a million young girls, 10% of youths aging from 15-19. Of this number, 19% who had
sexual encounter became pregnant and 4.75% of these young mothers (from 19%) had their
second baby two years after their first one. In addition, she recounted that the 2002 report of the
Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study by the University of the Philippines Population
Institute (Uppi) and the Demographic Research and Development Foundation has shown that
26% the Filipino youth aging from 15 to 25 disclosed to have engaged in premarital sex and that
38% of them have been into live-in agreement.

There is an alarming increase of teenage pregnancy which calls for appropriate education of the
youth in the Philippines. Torrevillas (2013) noted that although many have supported the
Philippine Reproductive Health law as helpful in educating the youth to practice safe sex, he
believed that enlightening the adolescents about the advantages of waiting and not engaging into
pre-marital sex is a better way. For Tacio (2011)

Thesis

Increased teenage pregnancy is a result of the lack of proper sex education on the youth
aging between 15-19 who have been exposed to porn on print and broadcast media and internet.