The Philippines’ Baby Factory
They call it the “baby factory”.
At the Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in the Philippines’ capital, Manila, an infant is born every 12 minutes. Many of the new mothers are teenagers, some just 13.
This devoutly Catholic nation, where abortion is illegal, is the only Asian country where teenage pregnancy has increased in the last two decades.
Authorities say they want to reduce the birth rate, but the fight to make contraception readily available has been plagued by setbacks.
101 East investigates why children are having babies in the Philippines and meets some of the country’s youngest mothers.
Post Series: Philippines
- 1.Environmental Laws
- 2.The Philippines’ Baby Factory
- 3.Children Of The Sex Trade (Full Documentary) – Real Stories
- 4.Would you eat recycled landfill meat? – BBC News
- 5.At 11 years old, they’re getting pregnant’: the women smashing Catholic taboos in the Philippines
- 6.Fallen Angels. True cost of sex tourism: Philippine’s fatherless kids of Angeles City Streetwalkers
- 7.Power To Protect: Essential Marine Wildlife Tourism Guidelines
- 8.Would you eat recycled landfill meat? – BBC News
- 9.Diving into the Philippines’ dangerous, underwater mines
- 10.Unearthing toxic conditions for impoverished gold miners
- 11.The Philippines’ child miners risking their lives for gold
- 12.The Children Risking Their Lives Mining Gold
- 13.Golden Gamble. Gold mining in the Philippines, a dirty business
- 14.The Children Risking Their Lives In Underwater Gold Mines
- 15.Indonesia returns millions of tonnes of waste to Australia