Manila relaxes rules on birth control.

BY ANA P. SANTOS, RAPPLER.com
February 23, 2012

MANILA, Philippines – “I want to be a scientist…” says Laura Jane Duran. Like most 15 year olds, Duran dreams about what she would like to be when she grows up.

But Duran had to stop schooling when she got pregnant last year. Now, she lives with her husband, Jason, and his family in a shanty in Baseco, Tondo, Manila.

“I don’t know if I can still go back to school,” she says.

According to the National Demographic and Health Survey of 2008, in the Philippines, 10% of girls like Duran who are between the ages of 15-19, become pregnant with their first child.

Teen pregnancy rate is 53 births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15-19, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said in its 2011 annual report.

The Philippines has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies among its neighbors and is well above the Asia Pacific average of 34 births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15-19.

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