(CMR) President of Honduras Xiomara Castro announced on Wednesday, 8 March, that her government will lift its near-total ban on the emergency contraception pill in the catholic nation.
Honduras banned the use and sale of the morning after pill in 2009, arguing the emergency contraception would cause abortions. However, Castro, who made the announcement in the final hours of International Women's Day, said the World Health Organization says the pill is not “abortive.
Honduras, which prohibits abortion in all cases, was reportedly the only nation in the Americas to have an absolute ban on the sale or use of emergency contraception, also known as morning-after or “Plan B” pills.
Castro, the country's first female president, eased Honduras stance on the medicine known as PAE, Píldora Anticonceptiva de Emergencia, when she took office. But when Minister of Health José Manuel Matheu announced that policy shift last fall, critics said it didn't go far enough, as the medicine would only be made legal in cases of rape, NPR reported.
Matheu previously said the pill didn't qualify as a method of contraception; but on Wednesday , he joined Castro at her desk to sign a new executive agreement with her.
Groups in Honduras that pushed for open access to emergency contraception include Strategy Group for PAE, or GEPAE, which has been working with the U.S.-based Women's Equality Center.
The group Centro de Derechos de Mujeres, the Center for Women's Rights, welcomed the news, saying through social media, “Our rights must not remain the bargaining chip of governments!”
Violence against women in Honduras has long been at a crisis level. According to the Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean, Honduras had the highest rate of femicide of any country in the region in 2021, the most recent year tabulated on its website.
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