The World Health Organization issued a strong call on Thursday for the use of contraception in countries with the Zika virus, and said that women who had unprotected sex and feared infection should have access to emergency contraception, a recommendation that may not sit well with the Roman Catholic Church.

The virus has torn through Latin America and is now in more than 25 countries. It is mostly spread by mosquitoes, and the main fear is that it may cause birth defects if pregnant women contract it. A few cases of sexual transmission have been documented, and the new guidelines were issued to prevent that. But they seemed to go further.

For example, the recommendation that women who have had unprotected sex and fear pregnancy because of Zika should have “ready access to emergency contraception services and counseling” is a reference to the morning-after pill. Health officials later clarified that the recommendation for counseling applied only to emergency contraception, not to broader pregnancy services, which in some countries could include abortion.