Projects
On May 7th, 11 years after being prosecuted, a Criminal Court in Honduras found Victoria* “not guilty” of the criminal abortion charges made against her. Optio’s legal team and Somos Muchas, our local Honduran partner, have been representing Victoria pro bono for the past three years. This legal decision was a victory for both Victoria and for our ongoing fight to liberalize the Honduran law that prohibits abortion even if the mother’s life is in danger.
Optio distributed reproductive health and hygiene kits to 5,000 women and adolescent girls living in shelters and informal camps in Cortés, Yoro y Santa Bárbara, Honduras. These women and girls were victims of hurricanes Iota and Eta, two category 4 hurricanes that ravaged the country in November 2020 and left 128,00 Hondurans stranded in shelters and informal camps.
Optio trained informal abortion pill vendors in Honduras and Guatemala on how to provide their clients with accurate information about how to use the medicine safely via a safe abortion app, built by Hesperian.
Over the last decade, more than 900 women have died of maternal causes in Honduras. Optio’s Siempre Vivas campaign aims to support the families of these women and ensure that their deaths become more than statistics.
January of 2020, Optio transitioned from being a program under the OASIS Initiative to an independent organization. We have since expanded our mission, added two new programs, and broadened the scope of our sexual and reproductive rights work to include both women and girls.