Mexico Decriminalizes Abortion Nationwide In Supreme Court Ruling
In a landmark judgment that broadened abortion access across Latin America, Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday abolished all federal criminal sanctions for abortion, declaring that national laws outlawing the operation are unconstitutional and violate women's rights.
The Supreme Court mandated that abortion be made illegal under federal law. According to the decision, everyone who desires an abortion must be provided with one by the federal public health service and all federal healthcare facilities.
“No woman or pregnant person, nor any health worker, will be able to be punished for abortion,” the Information Group for Chosen Reproduction, known by its Spanish initials GIRE, said in a statement.
But 20 Mexican states continue to forbid abortion. While judges in those states must follow the court's ruling, additional legal action will be needed to eliminate all penalties.
Social media instantly became flooded with congratulations on the decision. “Today is a day of victory and 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 toward "a more just society in which the rights of all are respected." She demanded that laws be passed in response by the Mexican Congress. Others in the deeply devout nation, however, condemned the choice. The Civil Association for the Rights of the Conceived director, Irma Barrientos, predicted that opponents would keep pushing back against easier access to abortion.
“We’re not going to stop,” Barrientos said. “Let’s remember what happened in the United States. After 40 years, the Supreme Court reversed its abortion decision, and we’re not going to stop until Mexico guarantees the right to life from the moment of conception.”
The court ruled on X that "the legal system that criminalized abortion" under Mexican federal law was unconstitutional because it "violates the human rights of women and people with the ability to gestate."
The court's ruling that abortion was not a criminal in one northern state was reached two years prior to the decision. That decision began a gradual process of decriminalization at the state level. Aguascalientes, a state in central Mexico, became the 12th state to abolish criminal punishment last week.
Despite the fact that Wednesday's decision should make it simpler, pro-abortion campaigners will still need to push for state-by-state legislation. 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 will be able to access the procedure 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, the removal of the federal ban eliminates one more justification used by medical professionals 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 very important step,” Díaz de León said. But “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 region wore while protesting for abortion rights.
Contrasting sharply with the growing abortion restrictions in some areas of the United States are the changes taking place in Latin America. To obtain medicines to end pregnancies, some American women have already 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 among the US government renders a nationwide ban or legalization improbable, at least in the near future.
With a few exceptions, abortion is currently illegal throughout pregnancy in 15 American states. Abortion is prohibited in two more 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 more states, judges have halted the enforcement of limitations.
States with liberal administrations have meantime taken action to try to safeguard access to abortion.
Mexican observers concurred that it would take some time to see how Wednesday's decision is implemented.
The director of the Guerrero Association Against Violence Toward 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.
Works Cited
SÁNCHEZ, F., & JANETSKY, M. (2023, September 7). Mexico decriminalizes abortion, extending Latin American trend of widening access to procedure. AP News. Retrieved September 10, 2023, from https://apnews.com/article/mexico-abortion-decriminalize-d87f6edbdf68c2e6c8f5700b3afd15de