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Seeking illegal abortions, some Hondurans use the phone

Source: <a href="https://www.maxpixel.net/Communication-Business-Phone-Women-Call-Telephone-2817221" target="_BLANK" rel="noopener noreferrer">Max Pixel</a>
Source: Max Pixel

She is often calling for “a friend”: How can she obtain birth control pills?

In Honduras, those who staff “La Linea” place themselves in danger just for trying to answer those anonymous calls.

The Line is a clandestine service offered by women to help women practice family planning or terminate pregnancies in a country where under no circumstances — not even rape, incest, or the health of the mother — are abortions legal.

The women who run The Line face daunting odds: The telephone number itself has been disconnected by the cellular provider; there is no political support for pro-choice legislation among the major political parties; and neither the Roman Catholic nor the Protestant churches support abortion.

Nevertheless, the women behind the effort to help forge on, aware that they are making a difference in a country where, Human Rights Watch estimates, 50,000 to 80,000 illegal abortions happen every year.

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