ARELLANO UNIVERSITY

Jose Abad Santos Campus

Basic Education Department – Senior High School

3058 Taft Avenue Pasay City

ALFORNON, GELEA ANGELINE

ESTRERA, GESSY ANNE

11- STEM 8

MR. JULES ARGIE B. SANTOS

READING AND WRITING

ABORTION: IS IT A WAY TO AVOID BECOMING A TEEN PARENT?

CRITIQUE PAPER
"Abortion: Is it a way to avoid becoming a teen parent?" is the relevant issue that my
partner — Gessy Anne Estrera argued.
Teenage pregnancy has always been an issue in our country, The Philippines. Furthermore, a
lot of Southeast Asia's country also have been experiencing teenage pregnancy. Age 13 to 19
women being pregnant is an issue that eventually needs to be addressed. According to what the
author argued, she does not agree with the idea that abortion is an answer to the teenage
pregnancy issue. She said that there's a lot of ways to prevent or avoid becoming a teen parent
— such as condoms or safe sex. In her point of view, children are such a golden and
meaningful blessing. Having children is such a heavenly blessing or idea to have. However, do
you think it is pleasant to have a child in an irksome way? I kind of disagree with her
perspective. It will never be a nice idea for a child to live his or her life in poverty or misery.
Abortion could be an answer to prevent teenage pregnancy, especially if you have a very strong
reason why you want to have an abortion. Rape victims, sexual harassed victims have their
rights to have an abortion if they wanted to. If you do not want to have an abortion, then don't
have one. However, we have no right to cut out people who want to have an abortion. According
to the 2019 report Save the Children’s Global Childhood, the Philippine Statistical Authority
estimates that 538 infants are born to teen moms in the Philippines every day in 2017. Mostly,
196,370 babies are born each year to teenage mothers in the Philippines. But according to the
current study of the 2021 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study, more than 386,000 or 6.8%
of Filipino girls aged 15 to 19 had started having children.

As for what I said, the author did not agree in abortion. She wanted to have a safer way to avoid
being a teen parent. In the body of her argument, every child should experience how it feels
being alive here in the world. She said that if you can't take the significant responsibility, then
why did you have sex in the first place? She argued that people must use condoms or have safe
sex if they really want to have intimate moments with their partners. Well, that was a fact
though. If you are not yet ready for a burdensome responsibility, then think carefully before
doing stupidity things. It is a policy or a-must-do when she said or argued that people must use
condoms if they want to have sex with their partners. "Male condoms, when used properly every
time you have sex, are 98% effective, according to www.nhs.uk/conditions/contraception/male-
condoms. Hence, if male condoms are utilized as a method of contraception, 2 out of every 100
people will become pregnant within a year", it is a fact that condoms are effective, because the
information came from a source. In her argument, it is a fact that parents would get mad at you
if you got pregnant at a young age, especially if they took good care of you. She also stated that
as a child, we learn something. We may not have grown up having a parent, but as we grow
older, we have our own perspective in life. As a teenager, you must already know what's right
and wrong. She also suggested that there is another way to prevent abortion, which is adoption
and legal guardianship. She stated that according to healthline.com, legal guardianship entails
sending the child to another person or family for the purpose of raising them. You retain some
parental rights if you choose a guardian over an adoptive family. If you can't raise a child right
now but think your situation will change in the future or if you know you want to be very engaged
in your child's development, this option can be a good fit for you. While in adoption — this is her
explanation, "if your parents are really against your pregnancy, you can do an adoption.
Adoption means you go through with pregnancy and childbirth and then allow another family to
raise the child. There are different kinds of adoption. You can give the baby to the orphanage,
and they will locate an adoptive family for the child". In her conclusion, all she wanted to say is
that abortion will never be an answer to avoid becoming a teenage parent. She also quoted the
honored statement of our National Hero — Dr. Jose Rizal, the "Ang Kabataan ang Pag-asa ng
Bayan". She argued at the last statement that we, people, should grow and be better
individually to be able to help society on what may happen. Do everything and anything that can
make us happy, if our limitations are still included.

There's a saying that "enjoy your present, but never destroy your future", I believe in that,
though not all the time. Each one of us has their own standpoint in any issue. I absolutely agree
that increasing teenage pregnancy must come to an end. However, abortion could be also an
answer to prevent child labor, poverty, malnutrition, sexual abuse etc. I know it is not a nice idea
to kill an unborn child, but there is 70% of me that agrees in abortion. My partner said that safe
sex or condoms should be implemented in having sex, I totally agree with her. If you planned to
have sex indecisively then you should not escape the responsibility of being a parent. I also
agree in her statement that as we grow older, we will build our own beliefs, perspectives, and
opinions about things around us. Yes, it is an advantage to have a guardian or parent that can
guide us in everything we do, but it is not an excuse in unpleasant decisions we make. I also
agree that adoption and legal guardianship is a solution to prevent having abortion. However, in
an adoption and legal guardianship, children may experience abuse and harassment in the
hands of the people around them. There's a lot of cases where toddlers, minors, or even adults,
experienced physical and mentally abuse. Well, not only by their legal guardian or adoptive
parents, abuse and harassment are also visible in biological families. I am tired of seeing a little
child having bruises. In South Korea, there's an unpleasant abuse case that shocked Korean
citizens. The death of an abused toddler, Jeong-In. According to koreajoongangdaily.com, an
investigative report was aired by SBS on Saturday about the death of Jeong-in, who died in
October 2020, just 271 days after she was adopted by a family in southwestern Seoul. Jeong-in
was adopted last January by a couple with a 4-year-old biological daughter. Jeong-In was
adopted and died because of abuse of her adoptive parents. I really don't understand, why did
they do that to a little precious girl? Not only in Korea, but all over the world. This is also my
main reason why abortion can be an answer to the increasing teenage pregnancy rate. We can't
also deny the fact that child labor has been increasing here in The Philippines. According to the
International Labor Organization (ILO), there are Two Million Ninety-Seven Thousand (2.097 M)
child laborer’s in the Philippines, fifty eight percent (58 %) of these child laborer’s work in
agriculture; thirty five percent (35 %) and seven percent (7 %) are in the Industry. And as the
days go by, age 10-17 or even below 10-year-old has already been working. Children shouldn't
be working. They must enjoy their lives being a kid. This is also the reason why abortion is an
answer. Rape victims has been increasing too. Especially now that we are stuck in our house,
family sexual harassment is also a reason of rape cases. Rape victims has no idea to be a
parent. Rape is an accidentally incident that no one would ever be prepared for. Though some
people know self-defense, there's still a lot of women who don't and are not aware of how they
would protect themselves. In this case, abortion is the only way to prevent being pregnant.

We are living in this world where freedom is a civil right. We have our own decisions in making
right things that'd create a better life. It is nice to listen to some advice. People around us are
only there to guide us. Still, at the end of the day, we will listen to our own voice. If you were
pregnant and not yet ready to be a parent, then abort it. If you were raped and got pregnant,
abort it. Life could be easier — specially to those rape victims if abortion is legal. Abortion is not
a murder. Fetus is not yet a child or baby. Yes, there's a lot of safer ways, but I — we, are
suggesting that abortion is also a way to prevent teenage pregnancy. We shouldn't be
gaslighting those pregnant that abortion is a murder because it's not a murder. A child that's a
result of rape is most likely to live their hell years in this condemnatory world. Abortion is
protecting yourself, and the fetus that must be aborted in this abhorrent and vile bunch of
people. You may not agree with abortion, but you have respected the right of those people who
want abortion.