Browsing by Author "Bautista, Mary Thea Bianca S."

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • ItemRestricted
    The social cost of uninformed and unplanned reproductive health behavior
    (2012-04-10) Bautista, Mary Thea Bianca S.; Cokieng, Chiara Anne T.; Pernia, Ernesto M.
    The debate on the population problem also covers the issue of unwanted pregnancies. Indeed, the Reproductive Health (RH) bill is designed to address, among others, unplanned and unintended pregnancies. This issue is critical as these unwanted pregnancies represent a substantial cost in terms of their fiscal impact which thus far has not been seriously assessed. Studies in other countries suggest that the social costs and consequences of unwanted pregnancies far exceed the costs of preventing them. This paper aims to address the following questions: (i) What is the social cost of unwanted pregnancies? (ii) How is "social cost" to be defined? (iii) How significant a fiscal burden on the public is such social cost? We address these questions by modifying the standard approach to adjust to what is relevant to our country, namely, the inclusion of the cost of post-induced abortion complications and subsidized basic education. In addition, We focus on the lowest income quaintile households for. two reasons (i) they are more likely to engage in high-risk reproductive behavior than the upper quintiles, and (ii) they represent, if unwittingly, the heaviest burden on public resources. Our findings suggest that almost :PttP18billion are spent annually on unwanted pregnancies, accounting approximately for about 11% of the actual budget for health and education in :2007. In per capita terms, the public burden of raising an "unwanted" child from birth to the completion of his/her basic education is PHP 3,188 an amount equivalent to keeping a family of five out of poverty for mote thana year.