After determining that previous laws outlawing it were unconstitutional and violated the rights of women, Mexico’s highest court decided to decriminalize abortion nationwide.
Declaring that abortions are not constitutional in all of Mexico, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) issued its ruling on Wednesday.
The curt’s decision in favor of a challenge to the current legislation in the northern state of Coahuila was made two years prior, the BBC reports.The court had determined that criminal penalties for ending pregnancies were unconstitutional.
Since then, Mexico’s states and the federal government have been reluctant to repeal penal codes, but the new decision makes abortion legal in all 32 states.
According to BBC, the Supreme Court ruled that women’s human rights were violated by the prohibition on abortion.
Arturo Zaldvr, the chief of the supreme court, declared that no girl could be forced to become a mother in rape cases, neither by the state nor by her parents or guardians.
It is necessary to examine the situation from the perspective of the best interests of minors because the violation of her rights in this case is more serious due to both her age and the fact that she is a victim. “.The decision has made it possible for the government’s healthcare program to offer abortions. Women’s rights advocacy groups have praised it.
In 2007, Mexico City became the first state to decriminalize abortion, and a dozen others soon followed.Sara Lovera, a women’s rights activist, told AFP that in addition to a lack of facilities for the procedure, “many women don’t know that they have this rght because local governments have not carried out publicity campaigns about it.”.
The Catholic Church in Mexico, the second-largest Catholic country in Latin America, as well as some of the country’s more conservative politicians, are likely to be upset by the new ruling.
However, the Church has been losing ground recently, and the government of the nation prides itself on being firmly secular.
Known as a “green wave,” Latin America has experienced a trend toward easing abortion restrictions.Although Javier Milei, the front-runner in Argentina’s presidential election in October, wants to outlaw the procedure, elective abortion is legal in Colombia, Cuba, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Abortions are permitted in some nations under certain conditions, such as rape or health risks, while they are completely prohibited in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.
The reforms in Mexico and other Latin American nations stand in contrast to the situation in the United States, where the 1973 Roe v. Wade landmark decision was overturned by the Supreme Court last year. A nationwide right to abortion is assured by the Wade decision.
