Mexico’s supreme court strikes down state abortion law and declares criminal penalties unconstitutional | Mexico

Mexico’s highest court overturned a state abortion law, ruling that criminal sanctions for terminating pregnancies are unconstitutional.

In a unanimous 10-0 ruling, the Supreme Court ordered the northern state of Coahuila to remove sanctions for abortion from its criminal code. Several judges argued that the prohibition on voluntary termination of pregnancy violated women’s right to control their own bodies.

“It’s not about the right to abortion,” said judge Luis María Aguilar, who drafted the court’s ruling to repeal the Coahuila law. “Rather, it is the decision-making right of women and persons capable of pregnancy to make decisions.”

The ruling contrasts sharply with recent moves in the United States to restrict access to abortion – particularly across the Coahuila, Texas border, where laws – upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court – allow abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy Prohibit and allow citizens to legally go lawsuits against women who request dismissal.

But the ruling continues a trend towards decriminalization in Latin America as women waving green handkerchiefs populate the streets across the continent calling for action against access to abortion and gender-based violence.

Mexico follows Argentina, where lawmakers voted in December to decriminalize abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Tuesday’s ruling continues the trend of the Mexican Supreme Court to endorse petitions from women seeking an abortion for health reasons or sexual assault.

It also returns a number of government attempts over the past twelve years to restrict abortion through constitutional amendments.

“This is the first time the court has got to the bottom of the matter” on abortion restrictions, said Rebeca Ramos, director of GIRE, a reproductive rights organization.

“This particular case is about whether the criminalization of early elective abortion as a crime is constitutional,” she added. “What is being resolved is that it is unconstitutional because it affects a number of human rights.”

To date, only four Mexican states have decriminalized abortion in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy – three states lifted restrictions in the past two years.

Mexico City decriminalized abortion in 2007 and the Supreme Court upheld this law as constitutional.

However, Ramos said the court did so on the grounds that it allowed states to set their own health guidelines. More than half of Mexico’s 32 states subsequently passed constitutional amendments that begin life at conception.

However, those changes haven’t stopped the Supreme Court ruling in favor of expanded access to abortions, and the court is expected to rule later this week on the constitutionality of an amendment approved in Sinaloa state.

“According to a secular state, the defense and autonomy of women’s privacy according to their life plan must be unconditional and assume that their decision is rational, conscious and autonomous,” said Judge Norma Piña Hernández in her arguments.

In his argument, Arturo Zaldívar, President of the Court, wrote: “The criminalization of abortion punishes the poorest women, the most marginalized, forgotten and most discriminated women in the country. It is a crime that by its very nature punishes poverty. “

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declined to comment when asked about the pending court ruling at his press conference on Tuesday. The president has shown little interest in abortion, despite the fact that his ruling Morena party claims to be left-wing.

“It’s no secret that [López Obrador] is personally against the right of women to make decisions and is suspicious of the feminist movement, ”said Barbara González, a political scientist in Monterrey.

But by ruling, González said, the court could “show independence” in the face of allegations of inappropriately pressuring López Obrador on other matters.

The Catholic Church of Mexico expressed dismay at the verdict, while others expressed anger at the judges’ decision to use “people who can become pregnant” in their arguments.

Bishops have previously campaigned with state governors to approve abortion bans, said Rodolfo Soriano-Núñez, a sociologist who studies the Mexican Catholic Church, “and in turn they have remained silent on issues such as corruption and violence.”