The first ever female President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, has legalised emergency contraception. Honduras has had a total ban on emergency contraception since 2009 – believed to be the only country in the world to do so. Castro made the change using an executive order, without the involvement of the country’s law making Congress.
Background
Honduras, a Central American country with a population of 10 million, has a total ban on abortion and some of the lowest rates of contraception use in the world. Castro promised to overturn the morning-after pill ban during her election campaign and the Government legalised its use for victims of rape late last year. In announcing her decision this week, Castro said the pill was “part of women’s reproductive rights and not abortive.”
