What do Filipino women want? Their ideal number of children at two
PRESS RELEASE
An
important wish of most Filipino women that they cannot attain is their desired
number of children. Three out of four women want to plan their pregnancies, but
they end up having one child more than they wanted.
This
has been the gray scenario in the country for decades, said Benjamin de Leon,
president of the Forum for Family Planning and Development, Inc. (The Forum),
the advocacy organization that works with local community networks in promoting
reproductive health and rights.
“Filipino
women should be able to have the number of children that they want,” said de
Leon. “If women are able to achieve this, they are also able to lead a better
quality of life for their children and families.”
De
Leon cited the 2017 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) that found 75%
or 3 out of 4 women in the childbearing ages of 15-49 years wanted to have only
two children. Most women said they
wanted to stop having children (60% of the 75%) and the rest wanted to have
children at a later time to prevent pregnancies occurring too close to each
other (15% of the 75%).
Overall,
the NDHS noted a 31% rate of unmet need for family planning among sexually
active women in both married and unmarried states, which consists of 17% of the
age group 15-49 who want to practice some form of family planning (FP) but do
not have access to FP methods; and 14% who are using ineffective traditional
methods such as withdrawal.
Based
on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)’s 2018 population estimates, there
would be 27,713,110 women of reproductive ages 15-49 by the end of 2018. Based
on this estimate, the unmet need for family planning would mean roughly more
than 8 million women.
The
PSA, which conducted the NDHS, also projected a total population of 107 million
as of end-2018, with 3.22 births per minute.
The
NDHS placed the country’s total fertility rate, a demographic indicator that estimates
the actual number of children each woman would have in her childbearing years,
at 2.7, which is more than the women’s ideal of two children. The fertility
rate has gradually gone down over the years, from 3 children in the last survey
in 2013.
The
PSA also noted the fertility rates that are higher than the national average of
2.7 in some of the country’s 17 regions, most notably, the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao, Bicol and Western Visayas with women having 3.8 to 4.1
children.
“Women wishing to have just the right number
of children is a good sign that family wellbeing that transforms into overall progress
for the country has always been within reach,” said de Leon. “We just have to
help women achieve what they envision for themselves and for them to have the
reproductive rights they are entitled to,” he added.
De
Leon stressed that “family planning is a human right that must be accorded to
every woman who wants to practice it.” He said “a woman who has the means and
the power to stop or postpone another pregnancy also has the capacity to attain
education or be employed and fulfill her dreams.”
De
Leon said the drop in fertility rate offers better chances that more and more
women are now able to limit the number of births they deliver or space their
pregnancies, which makes the work of organizations such as The Forum even more
urgent now, as it continues to strengthen community groups that share its
advocacies in helping women become aware of their rights to health services
that support their desired family size.
“Family
planning is still low among married women who are in the lowest socioeconomic
levels and women who did not attend school,” he said.
De
Leon said The Forum supports the government in its work in implementing the
Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health law that prioritizes permanent family
planning methods which include bilateral tubal ligation for women and noscalpel
vasectomy for men and long term methods such as intrauterine device or IUDs and
progestin subdermal implants.
He
said The Forum, which works in areas with high unmet needs around the country,
believes that the wellbeing of women through proper awareness and use of family
planning methods will impact positively in decreasing teen pregnancies,
reducing maternal and infant deaths, preventing induced abortion cases, and
ultimately go higher steps further in ending the cycle of poverty.
The Forum for Family Planning
and Development, Inc.
Room
305, Ang Bahay ng Alumni, Ramon Magsaysay Avenue,
UP
Campus, Diliman, Quezon City, 1101 Philippines
Telephone:
+632-4265484
Telefax
No.: +632-2771435
Mobile:
0918-9443805
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