On March 8, 2023, Honduran President Xiomara Castro signed an executive order that ended a fourteen-year ban on the use of emergency contraception by the country’s women and girls. This represents a significant step forward in a country with a recent history of enacting restrictive policies on sexual and reproductive rights, and which still has a total ban on abortions.
Honduras has some of the world’s strictest anti-abortion laws. The country’s restrictive reproductive and abortion rights perpetuate gender-based violence and limit women’s agency, hampering efforts to achieve the objectives of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. In view of the marked erosion of reproductive rights in Honduras and other countries, it is vital that the international community puts these essential freedoms at the forefront of its agenda.
Voluntary termination of pregnancy has been prohibited under the Honduran constitution since 1982, and was made a criminal offense under all circumstances in 1997, punishable by up to ten years in jail. On January 21, 2021, and in spite of the fact that access to legal, free, and safe abortions has long been a key area of focus for campaigners for women’s rights in Latin America, the Honduran National Congress ratified a constitutional amendment designed – in the words of one deputy and member of the opposition – to “set in stone” a total ban on abortion. In so doing, Congress enshrined in the constitution a blanket prohibition on the voluntary termination of pregnancy, even in cases of rape, incest, fetal anomaly, or risk to the mother’s life or health. Given that the new article can only be amended with the support of three-quarters of standing deputies and cannot be repealed or modified by a subsequent constitutional ruling, the future of the right to abortion and women’s reproductive health and rights appears bleak. Honduras is one of six countries in the region to have enacted a total ban on abortion, alongside El Salvador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Suriname.
An attack on women’s health and rights
The ban on abortion in Honduras not only deprives women and girls of their fundamental rights to sexual and reproductive health but also puts women’s health at risk. What’s more, the ban simply hasn’t put a stop to the voluntary termination of pregnancy: the United Nations estimates that between 50,000 and 80,000 illegal abortions are carried out in the country every year. These unsafe abortions are one of the primary, yet largely avoidable, causes of maternal mortality and morbidity.
What does the future hold for the right to health for women in Honduras?
Against this backdrop, it appears that President Xiomara Castro has limited scope for improving women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. However, by signing the executive order of March 8, 2023, to liberalize the use of emergency contraception, the Honduran President has reversed the trend and given campaigners a glimmer of hope. The new government has also announced that it plans to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, severe fetal anomalies, or danger to the mother’s health, but will need to forge alliances within the National Congress to achieve this. The fight to secure women’s rights will only succeed with significant engagement from civil society, whose activists sometimes pay the ultimate price for their advocacy. To improve their safety and visibility, PBI supports SOMOS CDC, Arcoíris, and the Visitación Padilla Women’s Movement for Peace, feminist organizations campaigning for sexual diversity and sexual and reproductive rights in Honduras.