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Vol. 72/No. 36      September 15, 2008

 
Court upholds the right
to abortion in Mexico City
 
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS  
Mexico’s Supreme Court August 28 upheld women’s right to abortion in Mexico City, the nation’s capital, in an 8-3 decision. “This is an incredible victory for women in Mexico and for women across Latin America,” said Lilian Supúlveda, legal adviser to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The ruling was in response to a legal challenge to the city’s abortion law filed by the federal government, with backing from the Roman Catholic Church and antiabortion groups.

In April 2007 the Mexico City government passed a law legalizing abortion for women who are up to 12 weeks pregnant and making it available to all women who asked for one. Since that time 12 public hospitals and clinics in the capital have performed more than 12,000 free abortions. Throughout the rest of Mexico abortion is illegal except in cases of rape, incest, or risks to the mother’s life.

“To affirm that there is an absolute constitutional protection of life in gestation would lead to the violation of the fundamental rights of women,” stated Justice Sergio Valls in explaining his vote to uphold the abortion law.

This ruling “is very significant for the possibility of continuing this trend in other states in the republic,” stated María Consuelo Mejía, director of Mexico’s Catholics for the Right to Decide, according to the New York Times.

Cuba and Guyana are the only countries in Latin America to allow abortions in the first trimester. The Nicaraguan government voted in November 2006 to ban abortions in all cases. El Salvador and Chile also have very restrictive laws.  
 
 
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