00:00Women in Honduras could lose the right to emergency contraception as well as
00:05the right to sexual and reproductive education. Gerardo Torres-Elaya reports from Honduras.
00:14The government of Honduras seeks to repeal the law promoting sexual and reproductive
00:19education which was enacted under the administration of Xiomara Castro as well
00:24as access to emergency contraceptive pills. The current government of Honduras
00:29is conservative, authoritarian, violent and repressive. This aggression manifests
00:35itself through the restriction of rights and the denial of social gains.
00:40Regarding the specific rights of women, we have seen a clear refusal to acknowledge what
00:46is already established by law, such as the legalization of emergency contraception, a matter that is
00:52not even up for debate elsewhere in the world, alongside a complete disregard for areas that
00:58ought to be progressing, but are instead being brought to a standstill.
01:03During the Castro administration, Honduras became the last country in Latin America to
01:08decriminalize the emergency contraceptive pill and to approve a sexual and reproductive rights
01:14education law that was passed to promote the human rights of women and girls.
01:19There are many concerns. The most significant is the regression in sexual and reproductive rights,
01:26against a lack of progress, alongside a lack of progress in addressing violence against women.
01:34Regarding this regression, for instance, the emergency contraceptive pill,
01:43for which the ban was lifted as recently as 2023, is now once again at risk. A legal challenge
01:50has been filed within the judicial system seeking to reinstate the ban.
01:55The public, especially women, view that these setbacks will have a direct impact in their quality of life.
02:05Given that adolescent pregnancy has become widespread in Honduras,
02:09the fact that a law aimed at preventing this major issue is being struck down represents a significant
02:15step backward. Furthermore, it demonstrates a lack of interest on the part of the authorities in
02:21safeguarding the lives of girls, ensuring they can live free from violence, including sexual violence.
02:28In the country's more than 100 years of democratic life.
02:31From Tegucigalpa, Honduras, for Tele Sur in English, Gerardo Torres Zelaya.
