Mothers at 14. The fierce debate over sex education in a deeply Catholic nation Sashikala VP, Hanako Montgomery, Yasmin Coles.
- - Mothers at 14. The fierce debate over sex education in a deeply Catholic nation
Sashikala VP, Hanako Montgomery, Yasmin Coles. Video by Tom Booth, Angus Watson, Ladan Anoushfar, ,September 1, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Tom Booth/CNN
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All names of minors have been changed at their request to protect their identities.
A boundary wall separates Baseco's residents from Manila Bay, a natural harbor in the heart of the Philippine capital. Over 64,000 people live in the densely packed compound, their homes made of concrete blocks and scrap materials, covered by corrugated roofs reinforced with tarp, making them prone to flooding.
Clara, 14, stands in one of Baseco's intertwining lanes. She says many girls who live here have become mothers at a young age. - Tom Booth/CNN
Among the residents is 14-year-old Clara, who lives towards the periphery of the informal settlement. Wearing an oversized black T-shirt with graffiti prints, Clara's small frame subtly reveals the bump around her waist. Now six months pregnant, the young mother-to-be hopes of having a boy. "I want him to be like my older brother. I don't want him to end up like me," she tells CNN.
Clara says that at school, sex education "wasn't taught in our class… we had different topics in science class." Had she known more about reproductive health, Clara believes she would have avoided getting pregnant so young.
Clara is one of an increasing number of girls, between ages 10 and 14, who have become pregnant in their early adolescence. Stories like hers are at the heart of a fierce debate between lawmakers, health experts and church groups over what the future of sex education should look like in this deeply Catholic country.
CNN spoke with several Filipino girls and young women between the ages of 14 and 23, including mothers, who said they had either not had any sex education at school, or if they had, it lacked helpful information about consent or contraceptives. One of the women, Sam, 23, remembers learning about contraceptives in an 8th grade class, with a disclaimer not to use them.
Jude, 15, left school when she became pregnant at 14. - Tom Booth/CNN
At 16, Gloria is already a mother of two. She told CNN she wishes she was older when she became pregnant, "so that I could have enjoyed being a young woman." - Tom Booth/CNN
Doctor Aileen Marie Rubio from Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila said most teens have "very limited knowledge on reproductive health, consent and what is considered abuse." Rubio, who works with the hospital's dedicated clinic for adolescent mums, said most teens didn't know they could get pregnant if they had sex.
Clara met her boyfriend through friends and became pregnant just six months into the relationship. Though she is due to give birth in three months' time, she has not been to any antenatal checkups and knows little about the health of the baby. "I have no money yet… to go to hospital."
But experts say mothers this young face much higher health risks during pregnancy and labor – and so do their babies.
A 'national social emergency'
In the Philippines, child and teen pregnancies are amongst the highest in Asia. While there has been a slight decline in pregnancies among 15 – 19-year-olds between 2019 and 2023, alarm bells are now ringing over a stark rise in pregnancies among very young girls – those aged 14 and younger – up 38% from 2,411 in 2019 to 3,343 in 2023.
Government bodies have long declared teen pregnancies a "national social emergency," and in 2022 lawmakers filed the earliest draft of an Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill aimed at tackling the problem.
Three years on, the bill is still working its way through the legal process, after multiple amendments, and the most recent refile last month, following fierce opposition from conservative organizations and church groups.
The bill aims to standardize comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in schools and improve access to sexual health services. Currently, teens younger than 18 need parental consent to access contraceptives, with some exceptions.
"Whether we like it or not, according to the data, there are adolescents who are sexually active now," Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the principal author of the bill, said in a statement earlier this year. She added that the bill "is needed to empower adolescents to protect themselves."
Christian groups have long influenced public policy in the Philippines. Following the signing of another contentious bill, the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, a "Pro-Life" sign can be seen flashing outside a church in downtown Manila. - Aaron Favila/AP
But an earlier edition of the bill faced fierce opposition from church groups across the deeply Catholic state. The Catholic Church believes intercourse should only happen between married couples and teaches abstinence for all others. The church also disapproves of artificial contraception but permits natural methods of avoiding pregnancy within marriage. Abortion is illegal in all circumstances in the Philippines, including after rape or incest.
This opposition recently culminated in a combined lobbying effort by a coalition of at least eight evangelical and catholic organizations across the country, known as Project Dalisay.
Started as an initiative of the National Coalition for the Family and the Constitution, Project Dalisay – or Project Pure – interprets the bill as a combatant against its ideologies on sex and parental authority, and its main point of contention revolves around CSE.
The project's convenor, Maria Lourdes Sereno, a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the Philippines, tells CNN that CSE "intends to normalize sexual discussion, which is not part of Filipino culture." The initiative "sprang as a voluntary group of faith believers, largely from the evangelical and catholic communities" to "voice parents' objections largely to the Senate Bill."
Maria Lourdes Sereno, of Project Dalisay, told CNN: "Filipinos cannot imagine the thought that the reproductive organs of their young children, as young as grade one, will be discussed in a classroom setting." - Tom Booth/CNNTaking inspiration from America
In early January, Project Dalisay launched a website which included a petition against the bill and an explainer video titled "Unmasking the Perils of CSE."
The site pointed to 15 "harmful effects" of CSE, taken from resources by US-based anti-abortion organization Family Watch International (FWI). They included eroticizing condom use and promoting "gender confusion."
FWI told CNN its research into CSE programs across several continents had found them to be "age inappropriate, scientifically and medically inaccurate … and ineffective in preventing teen pregnancy."
Another US anti-abortion group, Human Life International (HLI)'s country head in the Philippines, Dr Rene Bullecer, has vocally backed Project Dalisay. HLI's President, Father Shenan J. Boquet, also denounced the bill, saying that it posed "a significant threat to the societal, moral, and spiritual foundations of the Philippines," in a lengthy statement to CNN. He added that parents "have the most direct responsibility for their children," and the State should assist parents – "not usurp them."
Project Dalisay's Sereno tells CNN she has taken leads from such US groups but denies any financial ties. "We look for information, the technical information, the science from the US," she says.
The anti-CSE content became the basis of what critics called a "misleading" campaign, with Project Dalisay claiming that the bill's implementation of CSE as guided by international standards would include inappropriate concepts — something Sen. Hontiveros refuted.
When asked about Project Dalisay's controversial claims about the bill, Sereno told CNN that she "wasn't manufacturing anything."
Members of Project Dalisay also joined public hearings in which the bill was debated in an attempt to sway views.
By the end of January, several senators who previously backed the bill withdrew their support, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., once a public supporter of the bill, vowed to veto it in its then-form.
In response to the "severe backlash," Jaye Bekema, the chief legislative officer for Sen. Hontiveros, told CNN amendments were made. This included removal of the phrase guided by "international standards" and the addition of a line ensuring "parental authority or academic and religious freedom." Mentions of abortion and contraception have also been cut.
The latest version of the bill was refiled last month and will now face several rounds of committee hearings and readings by lawmakers.
Jolted from girlhood to motherhood
Meanwhile, 15-year-old Jude is grappling with her new identity as a young mother, telling CNN she first learned about sex from her much older partner. The young girl dropped out of school at the age of 14, when she was eight months pregnant, and moved in with her then 21-year-old boyfriend, whose family she still lives with. This 7-year age gap is the average for young mothers, according to a study funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The non-profit Family Planning Organisation of the Philippines (FPOP) is now supporting Jude with family planning measures and sharing resources available to allow her to continue her studies. They tell CNN that Jude's case "highlights a critical concern regarding consent, power imbalance, and decision-making within young relationships."
Pregnancy in girls below the age of 16 is also three times riskier than in older women, explains Dr Junice Melgar, the Executive Director at Likhaan, a non-governmental organization in the Philippines.
Young girls are not physically or mentally ready to carry babies and are not seeking care if they become pregnant, says Melgar. "And especially if there's a lot of stigma; they are not encouraged to seek care."
According to the World Health Organization, child and teenage mothers face higher risks of eclampsia (seizures), postpartum endometritis (inflamed lining of their uterus due to infection after birth) and systemic infections than women who are 20–24 years old. Babies of adolescent mothers also face higher risks of low birth weight, preterm birth and severe neonatal conditions.
NGOs such as Likhaan work to bridge the gap in sexual and reproductive health services by visiting communities they say need it most.
CNN followed their team of young volunteers in underprivileged areas of Malabon, a city close to Manila, where children play outside in the streets, and teenagers hang around near snack shops.
Welcomed by the community, volunteers talk to young people about gender and relationships. They also approach parents, handing them pamphlets on how to speak with their children about sex.
Volunteers target a basketball court in the community, where young men gather, and hand out a safe sex kit, which includes condoms.
For young girls such as Clara, these materials could have been lifechanging, enabling her to stay in school and resume her childhood. "I feel sad. I want to go to school," she tells CNN. Even if she were in a position to go, she admits she may feel "ashamed to."
Clara hopes to give birth in hospital and says until now the only support she has received is from her mother. The looming birth scares her. "I was told by many that it is going to be painful," she says.
She still hopes to eventually finish school one day, and hopes her child has better opportunities than she did. "That's all," she says.
Credits
Reporter: Sashikala VP
Correspondent: Hanako Montgomery
Editors: Meera Senthilingam, Sheena McKenzie, Hilary Whiteman
Cameraperson, Video editor and Photography: Tom Booth
Senior video producers : Ladan Anoushfar
Field producers: Yasmin Coles, Angus Watson
Photo editor: Catherine Phillips
Data editors: Carlotta Dotto, Henrik Petterson
OSINT researcher: Wayne Chang
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