Honduras’s Ban on Abortion: How Honduras Fails to Comply with the International Human Right to Reproductive Choice and Autonomy

By Madeline Jones

The right to reproductive choice and autonomy is an international human right. The Proclamation of Tehran was the first international document to formally pronounce reproductive choice a human right in 1968. The Proclamation declared that parents have a right to “determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children . . . .”[1] Since then, International Human Rights entities have recognized that decriminalization of abortion is necessary to meet human rights standards and end discrimination against women.[2] Criminalizing a health service that is predominately accessed by women, such as abortion, is unquestionably a form of discrimination against women, which restricts a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, and can result in detrimental or fatal health consequences.[3] In fact, human rights jurisprudence and treaty law have expressed that “denying [people] access to abortion can amount to violations of the rights to health, privacy, and, in certain cases, the right to be free from cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.”[4]

By 2022, twenty-four countries across the globe implemented complete bans on abortion.[5] Honduras is one of these many countries that has failed to act in accordance with international human rights obligations. The nation prohibits its citizens from obtaining abortions and bans the use of emergency contraceptives, which impedes on Honduran citizens’ right to reproductive choice and autonomy.

There are four countries in Latin America that have criminalized abortion: Honduras, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua.[6] In Honduras, abortion is criminal in all instances, including rape, incest, when the pregnancy endangers the person’s life, and when the fetus will not survive outside the womb.[7] A Honduran woman convicted of intentionally having an abortion may be imprisoned for three to six years; a health care professional who is convicted of performing an abortion may be imprisoned for up to ten years.[8]  Further, in 2012, Honduras banned emergency contraception, which criminalized the sale, distribution, and use of any emergency contraception, such as the “morning-after pill.”[9] Honduras is the only Latin American country that has banned emergency contraceptives.[10] Although the “morning-after pill” has sometimes been termed an “abortion pill” in media, this label is more than misleading; emergency contraception medication is merely a higher dosage of ordinary birth control and is used to prevent the fertilization of an egg.[11] In other words, emergency contraception is used before a pregnancy has occurred. Due to the ban on emergency contraceptives, Honduran women have been forced to buy emergency contraceptive pills on the black market, despite the high cost and dangerous lack of regulation.[12] Those women who cannot obtain access to an emergency contraceptive pill may be subject to an unwanted pregnancy, which they cannot lawfully or safely terminate.

Honduras’s ban on abortion and emergency contraception goes against the principles of international human rights law and furthers discrimination against women. Courtesy Center for Reproductive Rights.

Honduras has constitutionally banned all abortion since 1982. However, in January 2021, Honduran lawmakers ratified an amendment to the Honduran Constitution, referred to as a “shield against abortion,” which bans all acts which interrupt the life of a fetus and declares that life begins at conception.[13] This amendment explicitly includes the abortion ban within the text of the Honduran Constitution.[14] Adding this language directly into the Honduran Constitution will make the ratification of Honduran abortion laws more difficult. Before the passage of this amendment, the National Congress needed a two-thirds majority vote to reform the restrictive abortion law.[15] Now, a three-fourths majority vote is required.[16] Some pro-choice Honduran activists, such as Kevihn Ramos, argue that this change is an attempt to impose religion upon all Honduran citizens.[17] Additionally, United Nations international human rights scholars and experts have declared that this amendment violates human rights standards and fails to comply with human rights declarations laid out in the American Convention on Human Rights, which Honduras has ratified.[18]

Despite the ban, abortion in Honduras has not ceased to exist, and those most affected by the ban need reliable and accessible resources for safe abortions, birth control, and emergency contraception in case they experience an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy. La Línea, a volunteer-run online telephone service in Honduras, became a significant resource for pregnant individuals or individuals who could become pregnant seeking information about abortion.[19] Where abortion pills can be accessed is the primary question asked by La Línea callers.[20] Volunteers at La Línea are prohibited from helping callers obtain abortion pills or services, but can share important information about reproductive health and bodily autonomy.[21] The co-founder of La Línea has stated that, in order to stay safe and inconspicuous, volunteers at La Línea only speak to women who call, ask the caller their age, and allow the caller to speak first regarding their situation and needs.[22]

In August 2018, La Línea placed an advertisement that included the organization's telephone number in the newspaper to educate and assist a wider-reaching audience.[23] However, soon after the newspaper chose not to run the advertisement, La Línea’s phone line shut down and stayed shut down for months.[24] In March 2019, around eight months after phone lines shut down, La Línea’s phone lines reopened. La Línea and other reproductive health hotlines serve as a beacon of hope to Hondurans who oppose the abortion law.[25]

Furthermore, the recent presidential election in Honduras indicates that change may be around the corner for Honduran abortion and contraception law. In January 2022, the first female president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, was elected.[26] Her election provides hope that the Honduran government may make changes regarding the reproductive rights of Honduran citizens. Castro has stated her intention to invalidate the emergency contraception ban and decriminalize abortion.[27] Due to the 2021 constitutional reform, however, this intention may be difficult to actualize than if Castro had been elected only a few years prior.[28] Should she succeed, Castro’s plans to legalize abortion are not far-reaching. Castro intends to decriminalize abortion in only limited circumstances: rape, when the mother’s life is in danger, and when fetal malformations may endanger the mother’s life.[29]

In January 2022, the first female president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro (above), was elected. Courtesy Human Rights Watch.

The Honduran abortion ban does not comply with international human rights law, which recognizes a right to reproductive choice and autonomy, including, but not limited to, the right to abortion and contraception. Recognizing a right to reproductive choice includes removing laws criminalizing abortion, ensuring that the country’s health system is equipped to provide safe abortions, and eliminating barriers to reproductive and abortion health-care services.[30] Research has shown that abortion rates are not lower in countries that have banned abortion, such as Honduras, compared to countries where abortion is legal.[31] Restrictions on abortion instead lead to an increase in unintended pregnancies and, subsequently, an increase in abortions.[32] In fact, by 2010-2014, Latin America had one of the highest rates of unintended pregnancy of any region in the world.[33]

The critical difference between countries with restrictive abortion laws and non-restrictive abortion laws is that it is far more difficult for individuals to find safe abortion services and reliable information about abortion.[34] Margaret Wurth, a women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, observed that “[b]anning abortion does not stop it, but forces women and girls to put their health and lives at risk to end pregnancies behind closed doors, in fear and desperation without medical care.”[35]

[1] Jill M. Bracken, Respecting Human Rights in Population Policies: An International Customary Right to Reproductive Choice, 6 Ind. Int’l & Comp. L. Rev 197, 211 (1995); United Nations Conference on Human Rights, Teheran, Apr. 22 to May 13, 1968, Proclamation of Tehran, art. 16, reprinted in Official Documents: United Nations Conference on Human Rights, 63 AM. J. INT'L. L. 674 (1969).

[2] Information Series on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Abortion, Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/SexualHealth/INFO_Abortion_WEB.pdf (last updated 2020).

[3] Carmel Shalev, Rights to Sexual and Reproductive Health — the ICPD and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, UN (Mar. 18, 1998), https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/shalev.htm. (It must be noted that any restriction on abortion does not only affect women but, instead, any individual who can become pregnant or is already pregnant.)

[4] Information Series on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Abortion, supra note 2.

[5] Countries Where Abortion Is Illegal 2022, World Population Rev.,  https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-where-abortion-is-illegal (last visited Aug. 9, 2022).

[6] Rafael Jerez Moreno & Juan Carlos Aguilar Moncada, The Unconstitutionality of a Constitutional Reform: The Case of Honduras, Const. Net (Mar. 31, 2021), https://constitutionnet.org/news/unconstitutionality-constitutional-reform-case-honduras.

[7] Amy Braunschweiger & Margaret Wurth, Life or Death Choices for Women Living Under Honduras’ Abortion Ban, Hum. Rts. Watch (June 6, 2019), https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/06/06/life-or-death-choices-women-living-under-honduras-abortion-ban.

[8] Rafael Jerez Moreno & Juan Carlos Aguilar Moncada, supra note 6.

[9] Amy Braunschweiger & Margaret Wurth, supra note 7; Honduras Supreme Court Upholds Absolute Ban on Emergency Contraception, Opens Door to Criminalize Women and Medical Professionals, Ctr. for Reproductive Rts. (Feb. 13, 2012), https://reproductiverights.org/honduras-supreme-court-upholds-absolute-ban-on-emergency-contraception-opens-door-to-criminalize-women-and-medical-professionals/.

[10] Nina Lakhani, Honduras Urged to Put an End to Birth Control Myths, The Guardian (Apr. 24, 2019), https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/apr/24/campaigners-fight-to-lift-ban-on-morning-after-pill-in-honduras.

[11] Honduras Supreme Court Upholds Absolute Ban on Emergency Contraception, Opens Door to Criminalize Women and Medical Professionals, supra note 9.

[12] Nina Lakhani, supra note 10.

[13] Tatiana Arias, How Lawmakers Made it Nearly Impossible to Legalize Abortion in Honduras, CNN (Jan. 31, 2021), https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/31/americas/honduras-abortion-ban-ratified-intl/index.html; Honduran Abortion Law: Congress Moves to Set Total Ban ‘In Stone,’ BBC (Jan. 22, 2021), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-55764195.

[14] Rafael Jerez Moreno & Juan Carlos Aguilar Moncada, supra note 6.

[15] Honduras: Attack on Reproductive Rights: Marriage Equality, Hum. Rts. Watch (Jan. 23, 2021), https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/01/23/honduras-attack-reproductive-rights-marriage-equality.

[16] Id.

[17] Reuters, Honduran Lawmakers Vote to Lock in Nans on Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage, NBC News (Jan. 22, 2021), https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/honduran-lawmakers-vote-lock-bans-abortion-same-sex-marriage-n1255312.

[18] Rafael Jerez Moreno & Juan Carlos Aguilar Moncada, supra note 6.

[19] Amy Braunschweiger & Margaret Wurth, supra note 7.

[20] Beatriz Diez, Abortion in Honduras: What is La Línea, the Clandestine Telephone Information Service on Pregnancy Termination that Challenges the Government, BBC News World (Aug. 14, 2019), https://www-bbc-com.translate.goog/mundo/noticias-america-latina49338547?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc.

[21]Anna-Cat Brigida, The Informal Networks Resisting Honduras’s Abortion Ban, Aljazeera (July 12, 2019), https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2019/7/12/the-informal-networks-resisting-hondurass-abortion-ban; Beatriz Diez, supra  note 20.

[22] Beatriz Diez, supra note 20.

[23] Amy Braunschweiger & Margaret Wurth, supra note 7.

[24] Id.

[25] See e.g., Anna-Cat Brigida, supra note 21.

[26]  Jeff Ernst, Honduras: Can First Female President Usher in a New Era for Women?, The Guardian (Jan. 27, 2022), https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jan/26/honduras-first-female-president-xiomara-castro-women.

[27] Id.

[28] Id.

[29] Isabella Poppe, The Election of New President Xiomara Castra Renews Honduran Women’s Hope in Their Country, Women’s Media Ctr. (Feb. 22, 2022), https://womensmediacenter.com/fbomb/the-election-of-new-president-xiomara-castro-renews-honduran-womens-hope-in-their-country.

[30] Information Series on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Abortion, supra note 2.

[31] Jonathan Bearak, et. al., Unintended Pregnancy and Abortion by Income, Region, and the Legal Status of Abortion: Estimates from a Comprehensive Model for 1990-2019, The Lancet: Glob. Health (July 22, 2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30315-6.

[32] Id. (The increase in unintended pregnancies arises because, in countries where abortion is heavily restricted or out-right banned, the use of contraceptives is lower than in countries where abortion is legal. Countries where abortion is legal have stronger and more accessible reproductive healthcare and, therefore, contraceptive use is higher.)

[33] Abortion in Latin American And the Caribbean, Guttmacher Inst. (Mar. 2018), https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/factsheet/ib_aww-latin-america.pdf.

[34] Michaeleen Doucleff, Do Restrictive Abortion Laws Actually Reduce Abortion? A Global Map Offers Insights, NPR (June 27, 2022), https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/05/27/1099739656/do-restrictive-abortion-laws-actually-reduce-abortion-a-global-map-offers-insigh.

[35] Honduras: Abortion Ban’s Dire Consequences, Hum. Rts. Watch (June 6, 2019), https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/06/06/honduras-abortion-bans-dire-consequences.