Mexico. Abortion decriminalized throughout Mexico. Supreme Court decision

“The First Chamber of the Supreme Court ruled that the legal system criminalizing abortion in the federal criminal code is unconstitutional because it violates human rightsrights of women and people able to become pregnant,” he said on Wednesday Supreme Court Mexico on social media. The verdict came two years after the court recognized the criminal sanctions for abortion in force in the state of Coahuila at that time. as unconstitutional. Since then, 12 of Mexico’s 31 states have moved to remove abortion from their penal code. It has now been decriminalized nationwide. “No pregnant person or health care professional will be held criminally liable for abortion,” said the GIRE organization, which fights for women’s reproductive rights in Mexico.

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As of Wednesday, abortion was legal in 12 Mexican states. However, according to Sara Lovera, a women’s rights activist quoted in the BBC, “many women did not know that they had such a right.” “That’s why the Supreme Court’s decision is so important,” she said.

As the Guardian notes, to finally establish decriminalization – for the law to apply throughout Mexico – it is necessary for both houses of Congress to pass a bill removing abortion from the penal code. Until then, its implementation will remain in the legal gray area. This process can take years, similar to the use of marijuana. The drug was decriminalized by a court decision in 2018, but the regulations on this matter were ratified by congress only in 2021. Importantly, however, congressional ratification is not necessary for the commencement of abortion services by facilities under the Mexican health care system. This means that women who want to have an abortion will be able to do so now.

After the announcement of the verdict in the abortion case, numerous posts with the green heart emoji – the symbol of the so-called the so-called “green wave”, i.e. the tendency to relax abortion restrictions in Latin America. Currently, abortion is legal in… ColombiaUruguay, Argentina and in Cuba. Some countries on the continent also allow abortion in specific circumstances – such as, among others: health hazard. However, a complete ban on termination of pregnancy applies in El Salvador, HondurasNicaragua, Republic Dominican Republic and in Haiti.

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