ホンジュラス、緊急避妊薬を解禁

【テグシガルパ（ホンジュラス）ＡＦＰ＝時事】中米ホンジュラス初の女性大統領シオマラ・カストロ氏は９日、緊急避妊薬（アフターピル）の服用を１４年ぶりに解禁した。（写真はホンジュラスのシオマラ・カストロ大統領）
　超保守的なホンジュラスは隣国のエルサルバドルやニカラグアと同様、妊娠中絶を全面的に禁止しており、女性の権利擁護団体が緊急避妊薬の解禁を強く求めていた。
　ホンジュラスで緊急避妊薬の服用はかつて認められていたが、２００９年にカストロ氏の夫、マヌエル・セラヤ前大統領がクーデターで失脚して以降、禁止されていた。
　カストロ氏は「世界保健機関（ＷＨＯ）は緊急避妊薬について、女性のリプロダクティブ・ライツ（性と生殖に関する権利）の一部であり、中絶ではないと判断している」とツイッターに投稿した。
　一方、キリスト教系団体は、緊急避妊薬の服用は中絶に等しいと主張し、その他の利権団体と共に解禁に反対していた。
　ＷＨＯは緊急避妊薬について、排卵を抑えたり遅らせたりするもので、中絶を誘発するものではないと説明している。避妊手段を取らない性行為の後、５日以内に緊急避妊薬を服用した場合の妊娠阻止率は９５％とされる。
　緊急医療援助団体「国境なき医師団」によると、ホンジュラスでは避妊具を入手しにくく、性教育が不十分で、性暴力の発生件数が多いため、１０代の妊娠率が高い。
　しかし、レイプで妊娠した場合や母体に危険が及ぶ場合を含め、中絶は全面的に禁止されている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/03/10-16:32）

Honduras' first woman president, Xiomara Castro, on Thursday lifted a 14-year-old ban on the emergency contraceptive pill in one of the last countries to outlaw its use.
Access to the pill was a key demand of women's rights groups in Honduras, which maintains an absolute ban on abortion along with its Central American neighbors El Salvador and Nicaragua.
But the move was vehemently opposed by church and other interest groups in a deeply conservative society.
Its use was previously authorized in Honduras but was prohibited shortly after Castro's husband Manuel Zelaya, president from 2006 to 2009, was unseated in a coup supported by the military, business elites and the political right.
We commemorate the historical struggle of women, Castro tweeted on Thursday as she announced she had signed an executive agreement for the free use and commercialization of the morning-after pill.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has determined that is part of the reproductive rights of women and is not abortive, said the leftist president, who had spoken out for legalized abortion and same-sex marriage during the campaign that led to her election in November 2021.
Church groups insist the morning-after pill is akin to abortion.
According to the WHO, emergency contraception can prevent up to 95 percent of pregnancies when taken within five days of unprotected sex or rape.
The pill prevents or delays ovulation and does not induce an abortion, it says.
According to the NGO Doctors without Borders (MSF), there is limited access to contraceptives in Honduras, a gap in sex education, and a high rate of sexual violence all contributing to a high rate of teen pregnancy.
Abortion is outlawed in all cases, including pregnancies that are the result of rape or threaten the life of the woman.
Castro's government has also been meeting LGBTQ groups to discuss gender identity legislation, although there are no plans yet to authorize same-sex marriage.