Monday, June 11, 2007 Editorial: Planned parenthood
KATRINA looks at son Jules with arguably more love than other mothers spare for their children (real names withheld).
Eleven years ago, when she gave birth to him, he was a medical emergency. He had already swallowed fecal matter because she delayed in letting her fellow helpers wake their mistress so she could be taken to the hospital.
Still single and a teenager then, Katrina was involved with the family driver. Fearing a scolding, even unemployment, she kept their affair a secret, including her consequent pregnancy. By binding her abdomen tightly and wearing loose clothes, she kept her condition a secret. She continued to do heavy tasks like washing and ironing clothes, standing up for hours.
Rushed to the hospital after midnight, she nearly lost her life and her baby’s. For months after, Jules, a sickly and undersized infant, had to be taken frequently to the doctor. But although her mistress required her helper and driver to pay for the doctor consultations and immunizations, she did not fire both of them. She stood in later as a sponsor when Katrina wed Jules’ father, with Jules as the ring bearer.
When she looks at Jules, now entering sixth grade in a private school through a scholarship sustained by her mistress and kumare, Katrina is grateful for this constant reminder. For not seeking pre-natal visits and risking a complicated birth, Katrina could have had nothing.
10 every 24
Second chances are denied of 10 women, who die every 24 hours from pregnancy-related causes in the country.
“The leading cause of maternal mortality in Central Visayas is postpartum hemorrhage, which is a complication of both vaginal and caesarean delivery,” Department of Health (DOH) sources reveal to Sun.Star Cebu’s Jujemay G. Awit in her June 7, 2007 report.
To bring down maternal mortality, the health agency is working to uphold its “four pillars” of safe motherhood: pre-natal and post-natal care, clean and safe delivery, emergency obstetric care and family planning.
At the frontline of saving the lives of mothers and infants is pre-natal care. In Awit’s report, Dr. Maria Socorro Entera of the DOH 7 Maternal and Child Health Section noted that these early check-ups can spot and treat high risk pregnancies.
Open minds
A major obstacle preventing promotion of safer pregnancies is the prevailing judgmental attitude towards pregnant, unmarried women. One retired government doctor admitted to scolding those who came to see him for check-ups alone or with only a female relative for company.
Requesting anonymity, the physician-surgeon explained that it was not just Catholic conservatism but also pragmatism that supported his belief that a child had “the best chances for survival” if he had two parents, not one. He said he lost count of the incidences when there was not even enough money saved to buy essentials like needle and dextrose needed for the delivery. “If you have nine months to prepare (for the birth), why don’t you?”
More effective than a lecture or a sermon though is age-appropriate, accessible and sustained education on reproductive health. According to the Young Adult Fertility Survey of 2002, 23 percent of 16.5 million Filipinos aged between 15 and 24 already had premarital sex. About one-third of young Filipino women aged between 20 and 24 have already given birth to their first child before reaching the age of 21, the same survey shows.
Better awareness can lead to greater responsibility among the youth. This means not just discerning if they are ready for sexual intimacy but also coping with, hopefully, a planned parenthood.
