The country's Supreme Court ordered that abortion be removed from the federal penal code, ruling that national laws prohibiting the procedure are unconstitutional and violate women's rights.
A woman holds up a sign with a message that reads in Spanish;"I will decide" as she joins a march demanding legal, free and safe abortions for all women, marking International Safe Abortion Day, in Mexico City, Sept. 28, 2022. Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, has decriminalized abortion nationwide.
Sen. Olga Sánchez Cordero, a former Supreme Court justice, applauded the ruling, saying on X that it represented an advance toward"a more just society in which the rights of all are respected." She called on Mexico's Congress to pass legislation in response.But others in the highly religious country decried the decision. Irma Barrientos, director of the Civil Association for the Rights of the Conceived, said opponents will continue the fight against expanded abortion access.
The decision came two years after the court ruled that abortion was not a crime in one northern state. That ruling set off a slow state-by-state process of decriminalizing it.Abortion-rights activists will have to continue seeking legalization state by state, though Wednesday's decision should make that easier. State legislatures can also act on their own to erase abortion penalties.
Díaz de León said removing the federal ban takes away another excuse used by care providers to deny abortions in states where the procedure is no longer a crime. "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."Across Latin America, countries have made moves to lift abortion restrictions in recent years, a trend often referred to as a"green wave," in reference to the green bandanas carried by women protesting for abortion rights in the region.
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