Mexico confirmed Wednesday, September 6 its desire to decriminalize abortion at the national level. Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that the “legal system that penalizes abortion in the federal penal code is unconstitutional” because it “violates the human rights of women and people of childbearing capacity.”
Just two years ago, on September 7, 2021, the same Supreme Court had already ruled that the criminalization of abortion was unconstitutional in the federated states. 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.
Already decriminalized in 32 states
Abortion is already decriminalized in a dozen of the 32 states that make up Mexico. 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 of gestational capacity will be able to have access to abortion in federal health institutions”, welcomed the Information Group for Chosen Reproduction (GIRE).
In Mexico, which has nearly 130 million inhabitants, 80% of the population declares itself Catholic. The separation of Church and State was proclaimed in the Reformation of 1857.