HONDURAS-HEALTH: Problems Over Abortion Increase

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejia

TEGUCIGALPA, Jan 9 1997 (IPS) - Illegal abortions in Honduras are among the biggest killers of women of reproductive age.

Health authorities say an average of 30 abortions take place in this country — were abortion is banned — every day. Many end in disaster and “backstreet operations” are listed as the third main case of maternal death – at 221 per thousand in Honduras.

Enrique Zelaya, director of Population Risks of the Ministry of Health, says that according to his agency’s statistics, the problem of abortion is on the rise. Six years ago, the figures indicated an average of 10 cases a day in public hospitals.

Data from 27 public hospitals show that women arrive bleeding and suffering from serious infection after undergoing illegal abortions and Ministry of Health officials say others go to private clinics where no fugures were tabulated.

“There are many reasons that lead women to make the decision to have an abortion, but most are related to the woman’s desire to guard her image and appearance”, said Zelaya.

Among this group, he said, are young women who belong to the upper and middle classes, who even travel abroad to have an abortion.

On the other side of the social spectrum “are the young women who live in rural areas, where poverty is combined with low levels of education. In these regions, unscrupulous people practice abortions without taking the necessary sanitary precautions”, he added.

According to surveys conducted by public health authorities, the cost of an abortion ranges between 20 and 300 dollars. The method of removing the fetus with a tube is the most common.

In Honduras, the legalization of abortion has been a struggle carried out, without success, by feminist groups, who argue that women should be able to have control over their own bodies, and should therefore be free to decide whether to have an abortion without risking their lives.

But the government has rejected that position by blocking initiatives for the legalization of abortion, including in cases in which the mother’s life is in danger. The opposition to abortion is due in part to the strong influence of the Catholic Church in this Central American country, and to conservative organizations such as Pro Vida (Pro Life).

Martha Lorena Casco, president of Pro Vida, argues that “a woman who has an abortion is a potential assassin who must be punished by law so that she cannot continue to commit such abominable acts”.

However, the fact is that “our women are dying because of abortion”, commented the director of Population Risks of the Ministry of Health. “Abortion has become the third cause of maternal death. We believe that mechanisms must be established to regulate abortions in order to decrease the risks”.

Honduras is the fourth country in Latin America in maternal deaths, The highest rates of maternal mortality are registered in the area of La Mosquitia, on the Atlantic Coast, and in the western department of Intibuca, the country’s poorest regions with a strong indigenous component.