A new horizon for women’s rights in Honduras

Last month, Honduras inaugurated Xiomara Castro as the first woman President in the country’s history. A self-identified feminist, President Castro won the election on a platform that includes a commitment to liberalize Honduras’s strict abortion ban. Her victory, despite dirty attacks launched on social media by anti-abortion rights groups that fueled political violence against women, was driven in part by the relentless organizing of feminist activists across the country. 

Alejandra Miranda is one of the feminist activists behind this movement. Miranda is from the province of Atlantida, where members of her community, the Garifuna people, have resisted Honduran authorities’ violent attempts to deprive them of their coastal land for decades. The mother of two children, she studied ecotourism at university, though she is unemployed. Black Hondurans like Alejandra face discrimination in the country’s job market.  

 Since high school, she has dedicated much of her time to educating women about their rights and organizing for the rights of women and the Garifuna. “I have always had the drive to do something for my people” says Alejandra about her activism. 

Alejandra’s commitment to the rights of the women eventually led her to join a movement of young activists mobilizing for sexual and reproductive rights in her country. Somos Muchas, a Fòs Feminista partner, is a growing organization with representatives throughout Honduras that has put the importance of decriminalizing abortion at the center of public discussion.  

A desire to challenge the stigma associated with abortion motivates Alejandra’s activism with Somos Muchas. “I dedicate myself to visiting small communities where women do not have access to information or services,” she says. “We talk to them about the importance of contraceptive methods and the right to decide over our own bodies. In those communities, sexuality is a taboo subject and what happens is that girls and young women have unwanted pregnancies without being able to do anything about it.” 

Honduras is one of the few countries in the world that strictly bans abortion—even when a pregnancy is life-threatening, unviable, or the result of rape or incest, three circumstances that provide legal justification for abortion in most other countries. Honduras also prohibits emergency contraceptive pills.  

But feminist organizations in Honduras have begun to inspire hope for a new future. Somos Muchas por la vida y la Libertad de las Mujeres emerged in 2015 as a movement that sought to change the country’s penal code to decriminalize abortion under three exceptions. 

“We will not rest until all adolescents receive comprehensive sexuality education, until all women have access to the emergency contraceptive pill, until no girl is forced to become a mother. We dream of a Honduras where being a mother is an option and not an imposition” says Alejandra regarding her aspirations for the future. 

Somos Muchas has managed to organize meetings of more than 400 feminists from all corners of the country. They do not have vertical leadership; important decisions are taken in assembly. There is not a single spokesperson, but dozens of the members act as such.  

Despite enduring vicious attacks by anti-rights groups, Somos Muchas has emerged even stronger. As it looks ahead to the Castro administration, the feminist activist group will continue organizing to change laws and help everyday Hondurans understand the importance of the right to a safe and legal abortion.  

“Our alliance is based on love and solidarity,” says Neesa Medina, spokeswoman for Somos Muchas. “Even in the face of natural disasters like the storms that hit the country in 2020 or the COVID pandemic, our response is feminist.”