Mexican Supreme Court Decriminalizes Abortion

On Tuesday, Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) ruled against the criminalization of women who abort in the first stage of pregnancy.

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Unanimously, the supreme judges declared unconstitutional the Penal Code of the Coahuila State, which imposed up to three years in prison on either the woman who voluntarily performs an abortion or the person who helps her to have an abortion. The SCJN decision sets a binding precedent for all the country's courts, which must rule in favor of women's right to abort.

On Wednesday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) said that he would respect the Supreme Court's decision but avoided offering his own opinion on the matter.

"We have to be respectful of the law. When I take protest as president, I swear to comply with the Constitution and the laws... then I have to comply," he said, adding that "This is a decision of the Judicial Power, which... should be respected. "

Prior to the SCJN decision, abortion had only been decriminalized in Mexico, Oaxaca, Hidalgo, and Veracruz, that is, in 4 out of 32 states in the country. The decriminalization of abortion was celebrated by gender rights activists who highlighted that the performance of clandestine abortions has caused the death of many low-income Mexican women.

“We have seen terrible cases in which abortion is performed using perches or hitting women on the belly,” said Arely Torres, a reproductive rights advocate in the state of San Luis Potosi.

"Since the legalization of abortion in Mexico City in 2007, a network of activists based in this city has offered women safe abortion options, either by transporting them to the capital or by providing them with Misoprostol... But many women are too scared to approach such networks and choose to obtain clandestine abortions," outlet EsDeLatino explained.