Couples urged to practice family planning amid enhanced community quarantine

The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) on Tuesday enjoined the public to prevent unplanned pregnancies during this time when couples are more likely to stay at home due to the enhanced community quarantine that is being imposed over Luzon and other areas affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

"We are uncertain as to when the health emergency caused by COVID-19 will abate. As such, we do not want to add on to the current situation with another possible crisis caused by unplanned pregnancies, as they could bear added weight to our already strained medical institutions,” POPCOM chief Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez III said in a statement.

"We therefore call on couples and individuals to keep in mind family planning as they try to maintain their overall health and well-being inside their respective homes during these trying times," he added.

The whole Luzon was placed under an enhanced community quarantine to regulate the movement of people and prevent the further spread of COVID-19. Many workers, both from the formal and informal sectors, were forced to stay at home with mass transportation systems shut down and many business establishments temporarily closed.

Perez noted that historical evidence have shown spikes in unplanned pregnancies during natural calamities when couples and other individuals cohabitate for longer periods.

Since mobility is limited due to the enhanced community quarantine, he also acknowledged that access of some couples to family planning supplies and services may be interrupted.

The POPCOM said it will be working with local government units, especially in Metro Manila, to ensure that couples would still have access to family planning services and supplies such as birth control pills and condoms in the coming months.

Its family wellness clinic at the central office in Barangay Addition Hills, Mandaluyong City still accommodates couples and individuals with immediate family planning needs. —Dona Magsino/LDF, GMA News