Cendaña: Teen Moms of Cordillera

"NO teenager planned to get pregnant at 15. But it happens. It happened to me.”

This poignant reflection was from a young mother who participated in the recently concluded 2016 Teen Mothers' Congress organized by the Department of Health-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) last week. More than a hundred teen mothers from the six provinces of the region and Baguio City attended the two-day event. The congress proved to be a good venue to listen to this fast growing and extremely vulnerable sub-sector of the youth in CAR.

With the highest birthrate among young mothers 19 years old and below in the country, CAR must not only intensify efforts to prevent early pregnancy but also look after the well-being and development of the many teen mothers in the Cordillera. The congress provided a powerful platform for the teen mothers to articulate their problems, concerns and aspirations. In the course of the dialogues, workshops and discussions, they also shed light on their complex and often difficult plight.

Duty-bearers from government and civil society listened to the actual stories behind the statistics.

As the teen mothers share their narratives, they were informing, influencing and shaping programs and interventions to address their concerns.

The youngest participants are 14 years old. There were two and one of them is from Irisan. This Grade 6 student is four months pregnant. She is still in a relationship with the father of her child, a 24 year-old neighbor working in a hardware store. She got pregnant two months into their relationship. She said she is still struggling to fully comprehend her situation. Reality has yet to sink in.

The delegate from San Vicente is a 16 year-old Grade 9 student. She is fourth among seven children and both her parents are based in Mountain Province. She lives with her aunt. Her 18 year-old boyfriend of five months left her after she gave birth last June. She is trying to balance going to school and taking care of her child. But lately she was often absent in class because her baby is suffering from sepsis.

The participant from Upper Pinget got pregnant last year when she was 17 years old. She gave birth last May and is back in school. She is now a second year education major in one of the private universities in the city. She remains in a relationship with her 20 year-old boyfriend who works as a butcher in a slaughterhouse. They plan to get married when she turns 26, eight years from now.

These are just snippets of their complex and complicated stories. They have been and still going through difficult times. They live with stigma, discrimination and bullying. Their already difficult situation is further aggravated by lack of access to care, services and opportunities.

Many of them said that they felt alone, neglected and condemned. They are going so much at such a young age.

When young girls get pregnant, they are not the only ones at fault. We all are.