Mexico took a big step on Wednesday towards the end of the ban on abortion still in force in some of its states. The country has indeed confirmed its desire to decriminalize abortion at the national level.
Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that the “legal system that criminalizes abortion in the Federal Penal Code is unconstitutional” because it “violates the human rights of women and people in childbearing capacity.” Abortion is already decriminalized in a dozen of the 32 states that make up the country.
A first step forward in 2007
Just two years ago, on September 7, 2021, the same Supreme Court had already ruled that the criminalization of abortion was unconstitutional. In doing so, the Court invalidated the article of the Penal Code of Coahuila (one of the 32 States of the Federation) providing for a prison sentence for women who abort voluntarily.
It all started in 2007 in the capital Mexico City, the first jurisdiction in Latin America to authorize abortion. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that women could challenge state laws that continue to criminalize abortion.
“All women and people in gestational capacity will be able to have access to abortion in federal health institutions”, welcomed the Information Group for Chosen Reproduction (GIRE). Mexico, nearly 130 million inhabitants, is an 80% Catholic country. The separation of Church and State was proclaimed in the Reformation of 1857.