Rep. Lawrence “Law” Fortun urges his colleagues to pass a bill seeking to prevent teenage pregnancies due to the rise of pregnancies during ECQ imposed between March to May of 2020.

With adolescent pregnancy now being tagged as a “national social emergency” by experts and cause-oriented groups, Fortun said there is an urgent need to expedite approval of House Bill No. 6579 or the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Act.

The bill provides an operationalization of Information and Service Delivery Network for Adolescent Health Development in all provinces and cities and the mandatory establishment of functional local teen centers; among others.

“With most of our adolescent mothers belonging to the poor and vulnerable sector, we might be seeing more generations of Filipinos trapped in poverty if we fail to act on this now.” Fortun stated.

Fortun also asks the House leadership to expedite action on all the pending bills on civil registration, birth registration, and birth certificates because the birth certificate is the most basic document of Philippine citizenship and access to public services.