Executive Agreement 75-2023 - Authorization for PAE Commercialization

This executive order authorizes the free marketing and distribution of the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP) in Honduras, revoking the 2009 ban. It affects women, adolescents, and girls who can now access this safe contraceptive method in pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals. The purpose is to guarantee reproductive rights and access to healthcare.

Whereas according to what is established in the Constitution of the Republic, the human person is the supreme purpose of society and the State, consequently everyone has the obligation to respect and protect it. In that sense, the Constitution establishes that the right to life is inviolable, enshrining the right to protection of the health of the Honduran population. Likewise, it establishes that it is the duty of all to participate in the promotion and preservation of personal and community health (articles 59, 65, and 145).

Whereas in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic, the President is in charge of the General Administration of the State, and it is within her powers, among other attributions, to comply with and enforce the Constitution, treaties and conventions, laws and other legal provisions; to direct the General Policy of the State and represent it; to issue Executive Orders, Decrees, issue Regulations and Resolutions in accordance with the Law, as well as to adopt measures for promotion, prevention, recovery, and rehabilitation of the health of the inhabitants (article 245, numerals 1, 2, 11, and 29).

Whereas Honduras, as a member State of the United Nations Organization (UN) and of the Organization of American States (OAS), has executed and ratified numerous international Treaties and Conventions, through which it commits to guarantee respect for the fundamental rights of women and girls.

Whereas the State of Honduras has received observations and recommendations from the United Nations Organization (UN) through the Committee on Human Rights, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), World Health Organization (WHO), as well as from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), to eliminate the current prohibition on the distribution of the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP) and to take the necessary measures to ensure its free accessibility, availability, and affordability for all women, adolescents, and girls who require it in emergency situations.

Whereas the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (Levonorgestrel) is part of the List of Essential Medicines of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Whereas for approximately 10 years, our country permitted the distribution and legal use of the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP), which is, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), a reliable and ethical method to which women can resort in case of emergency within the first days following unprotected sexual intercourse, with the objective of preventing pregnancy, which does not always occur.

Whereas in October 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) determined that the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP) is not abortifacient, determining through a careful review of the evidence "that Levonorgestrel-only Emergency Contraceptive Pills are very safe. They do not cause abortion nor damage future fertility. Side effects are infrequent and generally mild".

Whereas taking advantage of the rupture of constitutional order in Honduras, amid the coup d'état in the year 2009, extremist groups promoted through de facto authorities the prohibition of the promotion, use, sale, purchase, and any policy or program related to the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP), through an Agreement of the State Secretariat of the Health Office (Agreement No. 2744 dated October 24, 2009, published in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta", in its edition No. 32,045). The foregoing, as an evident proliferation of hate speeches or anti-gender ideology discourse taking advantage of the rupture of constitutional order, with the purpose of promoting initiatives that violate or restrict the rights of women.

Whereas the Agreement declaring the total prohibition of the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP), in its content, violates and injures the guarantees and freedoms declared in the Constitution of the Republic, Conventions and International Treaties executed and ratified by Honduras.

Whereas as a consequence of the prohibition of Emergency Contraceptive Pills (ECP), women in Honduras have not had access to this safe emergency contraceptive method (non-abortifacient) and their access to the right to health has been obstructed, especially through the violation of their reproductive rights.

Whereas the Law on Equal Opportunities for Women recognizes women's reproductive rights by establishing that "the woman must exercise her reproductive rights and, by mutual agreement with her partner, decide on the number of children and the spacing of her pregnancies" (article 19).

Whereas on August 18, 2022, at the request of the State Secretariat of the Women's Affairs Office (SEMUJER), the Medical Association of Honduras (CMH) issued the opinion by the Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Honduras, which, in one of its parts, states that the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP) is not abortifacient and does not prevent the implantation of a fertilized ovum, since it has no effect on the endometrium, for which reason there are no known medical conditions in which the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP) should not be used, and that its efficacy is limited to its use in the first days after sexual intercourse, before the ovum is released from the ovary and the sperm fertilizes it, so it cannot interrupt an already established pregnancy, nor damage a developing embryo.

Whereas through Executive Agreement No. 14874-2022 of the State Secretariat of the Health Office, issued on January 20, 2023, published in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta", in its edition No. 36,134, Ministerial Agreement No. 2744 was reformed, with the purpose of facilitating adequate promotion, use, sale, and purchase of the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP) for cases of survivors of sexual violence.

Whereas ECPs are distributed and used throughout Latin America and in the majority of countries in the world, forming a key and basic component for the treatment of survivors of sexual violence, which acts primarily by preventing ovulation and closing the cervix. Furthermore, and in observance of strictly scientific criteria, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States officially established that the emergency contraceptive pill does not cause abortions, information that is currently published on the labels of this medication.