VIRGINITY: IS IT STILL "in"?

THE PHILIPPINE SCENARIO
Please allow me to present some issues regarding the young today:

1. The 1994 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey (YAFSS) of 11,000 young people, ages 15 to 24 years, conducted by Dr. Z. C. Zablan, professor of demography at the Population Institute of the University of the Philippines, revealed that 18 percent of Filipino youths approved premarital sex, 80 percent disapproved, and 2 percent were neutral.

2. The same YAFSS survey showed that a large number of female college graduates residing in urban areas (35 percent) were exercising their liberal roles, both in their personal and professional lives with flexible sexual attitudes, while 40 percent were more likely to employ contraception.

3. Data from the National Statistics Office showed that of 1.7 million babies born in 2004, almost 8 percent were born to mothers aged 15-19. Almost 30 percent of Filipino women become mothers before reaching their 21st birthday. In 2000 alone, young mothers gave birth to 818,000 babies, this means that almost 1 of every 10 babies is born to a teenage mother.

4. Kiko dela Tonga, of Likhaan Foundation, cited a recent study done by the Population Institute of the University of the Philippines showing that more than four million Filipinos aged 15-19 have had sexual intercourse. He said two of every five teenage pregnancies are unwanted ones; more than 46 percent of young pregnant women resort to induced abortion.

5. In Metro Manila study made by Josefina Cabigon of the University of the Philippines Population Institute, 17 percent of the 1,169 women surveyed admitted having had an abortion.

6. Every year, as many as 750,000 women undergo induced abortion in illegal "clinics" all over the Philippines. Many of these women eventually die from infection, hemorrhage and other complications. Statistics compiled by the Department of Health Hospital Development Plan for 1988 to 1992 reveal that in 1986 alone abortion was third in the top 10 causes of hospitalization. A large percentage of this is believed to be induced abortion.

7. A Review of the Youth Situation and National Policies and Programmes: UNITED NATIONS, New York, 2000. Of the 660 individuals in the Philippines who reportedly tested positive for HIV, a total of 72, or 33 per cent, were within the age bracket of 15 to 24 years.

8. Youth are particularly vulnerable to STDs, with 24.4 percent of female youth and 24.3 percent of male youth surveyed in 1994 found to have at least one serious reproductive health problem. Given the proportion of youth who are sexually active, they are particularly vulnerable to STDs and other reproductive health problems. Gonorrhea is the most prevalent type of STD to affect the general population.

Do you think preserving chastity could somehow address these issues?


click HERE for some opinions.

bonie