NEWS
Mexico’s Supreme Court Decriminalizes Abortion At Federal Level
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Mexico’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that federal laws prohibiting abortion are unconstitutional and violate the “human rights of women and people with the capacity to gestate.”
In addition to requiring the removal of abortion from the federal penal code, eliminating all federal penalties, the ruling requires the country’s health institutions to provide abortions.
Despite a major win for abortion rights activists in the Latin American country, more than half of Mexican states still criminalize the procedure.
The court two years ago took up a case from the state of Coahuila, and ruled that it is unconstitutional to penalize abortion, striking down several parts of state law, which sought fines and up to three years in prison for violators. Since then, other states have followed with decriminalization.
The court’s latest decision will push the issue further. In states where abortion remains criminalized, federal health institutions will still be required to provide services for some women, including government employees and those in the social security system.
Activists have been fighting for years to expand abortion access in the heavily religious country, and other Latin American countries.
In the U.S., meanwhile, abortion is becoming increasingly restricted in numerous states after the Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that protected abortion rights at the federal level.
TMX contributed to this article.
