Marcos to veto anti-teen pregnancy bill, says it promotes ‘woke mentality’

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Monday vowed to veto a bill that seeks to prevent teen pregnancy through a comprehensive sex education campaign, saying it promotes “woke mentality.”

He noted that while he is in favor of sex education, he was “appalled” by some elements in Senate Bill 1979 or the proposed Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act.

He echoed an allegation by a conservative group led by former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno that the bill seeks to teach kids how to masturbate, a claim that the bill’s proponent in the Senate has debunked.

Mr. Marcos blamed “woke mentality” that he said the bill’s proponents are “trying to bring into our system.”

“You will teach four-year-olds how to masturbate,” the President said. “That every child has the right to try different sexualities. This is ridiculous. It is abhorrent.”

“It is a travesty of what sexual and sex education should be to the children. If this bill is passed in that form, I guarantee all parents, teachers, and children: I will immediately veto it.”

Ms. Sereno’s Project Dalisay linked the measure’s sex education provision to a technical guidance by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and World Health Organization for sex education, which tackles masturbation.

“The two international documents are quite candid about its normalization,” the group of the ousted chief justice said in a statement earlier this month.

In response to Mr. Marcos’ remarks, Senator Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros-Baraquel reiterated that nowhere in the bill is childhood masturbation mentioned.

“Mr. President, with all due respect, it’s clear that there is no such word as masturbation in the bill,” she said in a video statement.

She also said the bill does not encourage kids to “try different sexualities.” “Child sex education contains the very same things you support: teaching kids — anatomy and the consequences of early pregnancy.”

“I am willing to accept amendments to refine the bill so we can steer it to passage,” she added.

Ms. Hontiveros has said Project Dalisay’s claims were fake news.

The Senate bill pushes a compulsory comprehensive sex education in schools that is “medically accurate, culturally sensitive, rights-based and inclusive and nondiscriminatory.”

With the passage of the Reproductive Health Act of 2012, sex education has been incorporated into the curriculum of public school students aged 10-19. The Senate bill is yet to be scheduled for floor debates.

The Commission on Population and Development last week flagged the rising incidence of teen pregnancies, particularly those under 15 years old, as it urged the Senate to pass the teenage pregnancy bill.

Pregnancies among minors aged 10 to 14 are at an alarming state “that needs a more responsive policy,” it said in a statement.

Repeat pregnancies also remain an issue, with 38 young girls under 15 having experienced it in 2023, it said. Seventeen women have given birth to five or more babies before they turned 20, it added.

The problem calls for a “comprehensive, age-sensitive sexuality education to address the issue,” Undersecretary Lisa Grace S. Bersales said.

The sex education curriculum will tackle “human sexuality, informed consent, adolescent reproductive health, effective contraceptive use, disease prevention, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, gender sensitivity, gender equality and equity, teen dating, gender-based violence, sexual abuse and exploitation, peer pressure, women’s and children’s rights and issues like pornography,” according to the Senate bill. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza