Rappler.com-Feb 9
The judgmental view of healthcare workers to young people having sex is the “biggest issue” affecting young people’s access to contraceptives and reproductive health (RH) services, a Palawan-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) said in a Senate hearing on Tuesday, February 7. The issue of judgment, also referred to as provider bias, was taken up in a Senate hearing tackling three bills that aim to address adolescent pregnancies in the Philippines. “Roughly half of the health care workers we work with in Palawan do not approve of young people having sex, so when youth try to access services, they are scolded, shamed, and denied services,” said Roots of Health executive director Amina Evangelista-Swanepoel. “Therefore, we urge the protection of adolescents’ rights to access service with specific legislation that will supersede previous age restrictions to accessing these,” she added. The current RH law says that no person should be denied information and access to family planning assistance, except for minors who need to ask their parents’ permission before availing these. The original provision in the law exempted minors who already have children or had a miscarriage, but the Supreme Court struck down this exception in 2014. Former president Rodrigo Duterte declared the prevention of teenage pregnancies a national priority in June 2021. Read more at: https://www.rappler.com/nation/health-workers-judgment-biggest-issue-youth-access-reproductive-health-services-ngo/
