In November 2015, Fausia, a 34-year-old woman from rural Honduras, was brutally attacked and raped while fetching water from a river. 8 years later, she has brought her case before the United Nations, seeking justice for being denied an abortion and forced to give birth to a child conceived through rape.
Honduras is one of six Latin American countries with an absolute abortion ban. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights (CDR), this policy has led to countless cases of forced motherhood, particularly among sexual assault survivors. Fausia, who prefers not to use her real name for fear of reprisals, is challenging the Honduran state at the UN Human Rights Committee, demanding an end to the constitutional ban on abortion.
The daughter of a Nahua chieftain and land rights activist, Fausia believes she was attacked in retaliation by men involved in a land dispute with her family. Despite threats against her life, she reported the assault a month later, initiating a lengthy legal battle. Learning she was pregnant from the rape was a devastating blow. “It was a psychological and emotional shock,” she told AFP at the Women’s Rights Center (CDM) in Tegucigalpa.
Fausia was warned that attempting an abortion could result in up to 10 years in prison. “I cried in the delivery room. Then they forced me to feed and kiss the baby, and I didn’t want to,” she recounted. “If I had had the opportunity to end it, I would have done it.”
Following the attack, Fausia and her family faced ongoing threats and harassment, forcing them to move multiple times before relocating to the city. The distress led her to contemplate suicide on several occasions.
In 2017, her attackers were arrested but released months later due to insufficient evidence. With support from the CDM and CDR, the case was reopened in 2018, and eight years after the assault, the perpetrators were found guilty. However, the conviction is still subject to appeal.
According to the CDR, three girls under the age of 14 are forced to sustain pregnancies resulting from rape every day in Honduras. Catalina Martinez, the NGO’s Latin American vice president, said they are seeking reparations and a public apology for the human rights violations against Fausia. They are also pushing for an end to the abortion ban.
This case could have significant implications for women’s reproductive rights in Latin America. The process may take up to three years to progress through the UN committee.
With a green handkerchief, symbolizing the fight for abortion rights, tied around her wrist, Fausia expressed her determination to continue the battle. “I am prepared for an uphill fight so that no other woman in Honduras has to go through what I went through,” she said.
In Latin America, elective abortion is legal in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, and Uruguay.
