Mexico legalizes abortion, continuing the Latin American trend of increasing access to the operation.
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Mexico's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that all federal criminal sanctions for abortion are illegal and violate women's rights, in a sweeping judgment that extends Latin America's trend of expanding abortion access.
The Supreme Court ruled that abortion should be removed from the federal criminal code. The verdict mandates that the national public health service and all government health institutions provide abortion services to anybody who seeks one.
The Information Group for Chosen Reproduction, often known by its Spanish letters GIRE, released a statement in which it stated that "no woman, pregnant person, nor any health worker, will be able to be punished for abortion."
However, 20 Mexican states continue to prohibit abortion. While judges in those states must follow the court's ruling, more legal action will be needed to eliminate all fines.
Social media instantly became flooded with congratulations on the decision.
"Today is a victory and a day of justice for Mexican women!" The social media website X, formerly known as Twitter, was used by Mexico's National Institute for Women to post a message. The government agency referred to the choice as a "big step" toward gender equality.
Former Supreme Court justice and senator Olga Sánchez Cordero praised the decision, stating on X that it was a step towards "a more just society in which the rights of all are respected." She demanded that laws be passed in response by the Mexican Congress.
However, several people in the very religious nation condemned the choice. Abolitionists will keep fighting to prevent increased access to abortion, according to Irma Barrientos, director of the Civil Association for the Rights of the Conceived.
We won't give up, Barrientos declared. "Recall what occurred in the United States. We won't let up until Mexico secures the right to life from the moment of conception, even though the Supreme Court overturned its judgment on abortion after 40 years.
According to the court, the federal legislation of Mexico's "legal system that criminalized abortion" is unconstitutional because it "violates the human rights of women and people with the ability to gestate," according to X.
The verdict was rendered two years after the court determined that abortion was legal in one northern state. The gradual decriminalization process began with that decision, state by state.
The central state of Aguascalientes dropped criminal sanctions last week, making it the 12th state to do so.
Despite the fact that Wednesday's ruling should make it simpler, pro-abortion advocates will still need to push for state-by-state legalization. State legislatures may also take independent action to eliminate abortion restrictions.
According to Fernanda Dáz de León, subdirector and legal expert for women's rights organization IPAS, the verdict does not now imply that all Mexican women would be able to access the process right away.
It does, however, theoretically, compel government entities to give patients the care. There will probably be a chain reaction as a result.
According to Dáz de León, removing the federal prohibition eliminates one more justification medical professionals use to refuse abortions in places where the operation is no longer illegal.
Additionally, it enables women with formal employment who are social security beneficiaries and employed by the government to seek the operation in federal facilities in places where abortion is still illegal, according to the expert.
Dáz de León and representatives from other feminist groups are concerned that women, particularly in more traditional communities, may still be denied access to abortion.
It's a crucial step, according to Daz de León. On the other hand, "we need to wait to see how this is going to be applied and how far it reaches."
In recent years, governments in Latin America have taken steps to relax their limitations on abortion. This development is sometimes referred to as a "green wave" because of the green bandanas that women in the area wore while demonstrating for abortion rights.
Contrasting sharply with the growing abortion restrictions in some areas of the United States are the developments taking place in Latin America. To get medicines to end pregnancies, some American women have previously turned to Mexican abortion rights campaigners for assistance.
Abortion was decriminalized in Mexico for the first time in Mexico City 15 years ago.
After decades of effort by campaigners in the area, the movement gained momentum in Argentina, which legalized the practice in 2020. Colombia, a nation with a reputation for conservatism, followed suit in 2022.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a universal right to an abortion. Since then, most states have enacted bans or tougher regulations under the leadership of conservative lawmakers and governors.
Political division in the US government renders a statewide ban or legalization improbable, at least in the near future.
With a few exceptions, abortion is now illegal throughout pregnancy in 15 American states. Abortion is prohibited in two additional states after cardiac activity is identified, which is often about six weeks into pregnancy and frequently before women are aware that they are pregnant. In at least four other states, judges have halted the implementation of limitations.
States with liberal administrations have meantime taken action to attempt to safeguard access to abortion.
Mexican observers said that it would take some time to see how Wednesday's decision is implemented.
The director of the Guerrero Association Against Violence Towards Women, Marina Reyna, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, forewarned that difficulties would continue. Despite the fact that her state decriminalized abortion last year, 22 ongoing investigations include women who are accused of terminating their pregnancies.
"There is still a lot of resistance," she declared.
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