NextGen Day

MANILA, Philippines – A family planning advocacy group urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider lifting the country’s two-decade-old ban on emergency contraceptive (EC) pills as the country resumes face-to-face operations in the face of declining Covid-19 cases.

Hyam Bolande, chair of the DKT Philippines Foundation, told the Philippine News Agency on Tuesday that health experts fear that adolescent pregnancy will increase as more interactions are permitted.

“We are on the verge of resuming normalcy. Covid lockdowns temporarily reduced the rate of teen pregnancies in the country,” Bolande explained in an interview.

The EC pill, also known as the morning-after pill, is a widely used method of contraception.

According to the group’s research, 73% of unmarried Filipino women prefer the EC method.

Postinor was previously approved for importation and sale in the Philippines, but its registration was revoked in 2001 after the FDA classified it as an abortifacient. It asserts that it can “safely prevent unwanted accidental pregnancy within 72 hours of unprotected sexual contact.”

In the twenty years since scientific studies have refuted any link between EC pills and abortion.

According to published World Health Organization guidelines, the drug cannot terminate a pregnancy but can only prevent one by preventing or delaying egg release from the ovaries.

“Our findings indicate that the Philippines’ own physicians, particularly those involved in reproductive health care, agree by a margin of more than two-thirds,” Bolande said.

According to DKT’s online survey, only 3% of physicians believe EC pills can induce abortion, while 68% believe the FDA should reconsider its position.

10% were opposed, while the remainder were undecided.

Prior to 2019, the Philippines had consistently had the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Southeast Asia, with an average of 495 births per day, according to studies.

According to the Commission on Population and Development, pandemic lockdowns resulted in a 13% decline in 2020.

“It has already returned because the underlying causes of the problem were never addressed,” Dr. Mario Festin, a family planning specialist at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, previously stated. “We had a brief reprieve in 2020 due to the quarantines keeping teenagers at home.”

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