Honduras' strict anti-abortion laws make it possible for women to go to jail if they leave their children, even if they become pregnant due to rape.

One rainy day two years ago, Lucia (whose name was changed), a 26-year-old maid of a family on the outskirts of the capital, Tegucigalpa, slipped and fell to the ground when she went outside to close the gate. The strong fall caused her to scream in pain and was taken to the hospital near her home for emergency treatment.

At that time, Lucia discovered that she was pregnant for more than 5 months and the child in the stomach could not keep. All trouble starts here. Police stormed the hospital where Lucia was treating and accused her of abortion, which is strictly prohibited in Honduras.

According to court documents, prosecutors indicted Lucia for using abortion pills, resolutely rejecting her pleading not to know she was pregnant and this was simply an accident. The defense counsel said the prosecutor could not provide evidence that Lucia had a medical abortion.

Honduras is one of the few countries in Latin America that criminalizes abortion under all circumstances, even during pregnancy due to rape, incest or life-threatening pregnancy.

If convicted of a deliberate abortion, Honduran women can be imprisoned for 3 to 6 years, while doctors or anyone who helps conduct the abortion can face up to 10 years in prison. Cases of forced abortion or abortion without the mother's consent may be punished more severely.

Women's rights groups have recorded 22 convictions or charges of abortion between 2011 and October 2018 in Hondura, but the actual number could be higher due to difficult data updates. towel. In these cases, prosecutors have found evidence of the use of abortion pills, but some women are still charged despite the evidence presented insufficiently.

According to women's rights protection organizations, once women are prosecuted for abortion, they will be subjected to community stigma whether convicted or not. Many people even had to leave the village because they could not stand the judgment of those around them.

Because of laws prohibiting abortion and the stigma of community discrimination, many Honduran women are forced to give birth even though they are not ready.

Nohely Bertran, a 27-year-old single mother, is also one of them. She discovered she was pregnant when she was 18 years old. Worrying, scared, she thought about abortion, but didn't dare break the law.

"If this was not prohibited, perhaps I would have had more options for my life," Bertran said. "I have no regrets about giving birth to my daughter, the thing I regret is giving birth to a baby when I was not ready for motherhood."

Bertran believes that if women legalize abortion, women in Honduras will have a better future when they are able to decide for themselves.

According to a survey by polling firm Le Vote in 2017, 60% of men and 64% of Honduran women supported abortion in cases of rape, fetus not developing normally or carrying pregnancy is life-threatening to the mother. However, anti-abortion activists in Honduras do not support this view.

"I don't think there should be any exceptions to abortion," said Michelle de Idiaquez, president of Provida Honduras, an anti-abortion organization in Tegucigalpa. "It is about the life of a human being, and you cannot disregard and destroy it arbitrarily."

The ban on abortion remains a controversial topic in Honduras, when women's rights activists voiced their opposition to anti-abortion support. They say the ban does not prevent abortion, but only pushes women and girls to the under-abortion service, seriously threatening their health and lives.

According to a New York-based Human Rights Watch report, 820 girls aged 10-14 gave birth in Honduras in 2017, many pregnant because of rape. It is estimated that more than 30,000 teenage girls aged 10 to 19 give birth in Honduras every year.

The organization also said more than 8,600 women in Honduras were hospitalized because of complications from abortion or miscarriage in 2017.

"The abortion law needs to be revised, because we cannot force an unintended pregnant girl to become a mother," said Nidia Castillo, executive director of the Women's Rights Protection Network.