Honduras To Authorize Morning-After Pill For Rape Victims After Decades Of Restrictions

Honduras' health minister stated late on Monday that the country will now permit the use of the morning-after pill for rape victims after more than 10 years of total restrictions, though abortions will still be banned. Being a heavily Catholic Central American nation, it implemented an absolute ban on the use and sale of the morning-after pill in 2009.

Reuters reported that in an event, Health Minister Jose Matheu said that the administration would make the pill accessible for rape victims as it is not a contraceptive method. He added that they are just waiting for the regulations unit to sign it off.

Honduras is the only Latin American nation with an all-out prohibition on the morning-after pill. The Rio Times reported that Honduras' government also penalizes women who have abortions with up to six years in jail, including in cases of rape or incest.

The Honduran Congress authorized a bill to prohibit the use of the morning-after pill in April 2009. However, then-President Manuel Zelaya quickly vetoed the legislation on the grounds that it overstepped women’s rights. Then on June 28, 2009, the Honduran military defeated democratically elected President Zelaya in a coup. A de facto administration assumed power in the months that followed until the scheduled elections in November 2009. The coup caused serious effects on the Honduran political system and on women’s reproductive privileges that are still felt today.

In a report by Al Jazeera, Marcela Arias of the Center for the Rights of Women, said, "The impact of the coup on women is reflected in our bodies and the lack of access to reproductive health." She added that after the coup, the few opportunities women had for reproductive health were greatly restricted.

The country holds one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in Latin America, with more than 30,000 pregnancies among girls and adolescents under 20 in 2017. These pregnancies bear a higher risk of maternal deaths during childbirth because their bodies are not yet developed for childbirth. More than 800 of these births were to girls aged between 10 to 14 years. Most of these births are the result of the rape of young girls who are too young to approve of sex.