Girl, 13, gives birth to baby boy amid pandemic

Kim* was 12 years old when she started dating Jeric*, a boy three years her senior, back in 2018. Shortly after, she became a mother just as she was beginning her adolescent years.

Kim is from a single-parent household. Her father left when she and her three siblings were still very young, so her mother, Elsa*, had to work to provide for their needs.

Elsa admitted that in their situation, she could not spend much time looking after her children. There were times when she was unable to even sit down and talk to them properly, so she writes on Kim’s notebook to communicate with her daughter.

Away from her mother’s watch, Kim kept going out with Jeric. And then she started showing the symptoms.

“I was always sleeping and I kept throwing up everything I ate,” she told “Reporter’s Notebook” in Filipino.

Kim initially thought she was simply ill. But when her nausea and vomiting continued, she and Jeric decided to use a pregnancy test. They did it twice to be sure.

Both results came back positive.

At that time, Jeric thought about Kim’s parents. He knew they would be angry for sure, and he was right.

“I was angry and frustrated because I was counting on her among her siblings to help me as I am separated from their father,” Elsa said.

Elsa eventually spoke with Jeric’s parents and they urged the boy to take responsibility for the baby. The two teenagers, who were both in junior high school, then stopped going to classes.

Jeric began working in a motorcycle repair shop to earn income for his young family. Kim saved up his salary to prepare for the arrival of their baby, buying some clothes and other supplies.

When Kim’s belly started to grow bigger and her pregnancy became more noticeable, people began to talk.

“They told me I was so young, why did I allow myself to get pregnant?” she said.

According to Juan Antonio Perez III, the Executive Director of the Commission on Population and Development, teenage pregnancy is now a crisis in the country.

In 2019 alone, over 62,000 girls aged 10 to 17 gave birth in the Philippines. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, this means that 170 teenagers gave birth every day. The number is expected to rise amid the pandemic due to the lockdown.

POPCOM has urged President Rodrigo Duterte to declare the issue a national emergency. Aside from the P33 billion in economic losses resulting from the reduced income earning capacity of adolescents becoming parents so early, teenage mothers also face a danger to their own lives.

Kim went to get a prenatal checkup and was told her due date is on March 5, 2020. To prepare for the birth, she started walking a lot in the belief that it would make it easier for her to deliver the baby. She also got visits from a hilot to help ensure that the baby is in the correct position.

When her due date arrived, Kim went to the Tondo Medical Center. She admitted that she was nervous about giving birth as a 13-year-old.

“I am scared because I read on Facebook that a lot of minors die in childbirth,” she said.

Her mother was equally concerned.

“I told her that if only it were possible, she can transfer her baby to me so I can give birth in her place,” Elsa said.

Kim’s vitals were taken at the hospital. She was not yet in labor, however, so she was given a prenatal checkup. She was prescribed some multivitamins for her baby and some iron supplement to prepare her for childbirth.

Dr. Micah Danao, the attending physician, said teenage pregnancy carried some risks, including high blood pressure and difficulty of getting into labor. There is also an increased chance of caesarean section if the baby’s head cannot fit in the mother’s pelvis.

Teenage mothers are two to five times more likely to die in childbirth than adult mothers. Their babies are also three times more likely to die than those born by women who are 25 to 29 years old.

“If we know the risks of teenage pregnancy, then we should find ways to monitor adolescents so they won’t be added to the number of fatalities,” said Dr. Cecilia Francisco, Director for Thematic Programs of Save The Children.

Advocates push for a teenage pregnancy prevention bill so that adolescents can receive age and development-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education. This is also under the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act, but Perez said this is not fully implemented.

Kim gave birth to a healthy baby boy on March 21, 2020. Her child recently celebrated his first birthday and had his baptism.

“I hope he grows up well as a respectful child and finishes his studies,” Kim said. – Marisse Panaligan/RC, GMA News

*not their real names