Mexico’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled Wednesday to decriminalize abortion across the predominantly Catholic country, calling the existing federal ban on abortion “unconstitutional.” Abortion rights activists took to social media, posting green hearts which represent the so-called Green Wave for reproductive rights in Latin America. File photo by Noelia F. Aceituno/EPA-EFE
Sept. 6 (UPI) — Mexico’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled Wednesday to decriminalize abortion across the predominantly Roman Catholic country, calling the existing federal ban on abortion “unconstitutional.”
“The First Chamber of the Court ruled that the legal system that penalizes abortion in the Federal Criminal Code is unconstitutional, since it violates the human rights of women and people with the capacity to gestate,” Mexico’s Supreme Court said.
Abortion has been legally accessible in only 12 of Mexico’s 32 states before Wednesday’s ruling, which is the latest in a series of wins for reproductive rights across Latin America.
Columbia, Argentina, Uruguay and Guyana have all moved to legalize or decriminalize abortion.
Despite Wednesday’s ruling, abortion access in Mexico is not immediate. Mexico’s two congressional chambers will need to pass an accompanying law first, to eliminate abortion from the country’s penal code.
Mexico’s ruling follows decades of feminist activism and comes after the country’s Supreme Court lost some conservative justices.
The ruling also comes more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights, guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, and returned the issue back to the states.
Two years ago, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled against the state of Coahuila, which threatened women who undergo abortions with up to three years in prison and a fine. It was the first time the court said it was unconstitutional to criminalize abortion.
On Wednesday, abortion rights activists took to social media, posting green hearts that represent the so-called Green Wave for reproductive rights in Latin America.
GIRE, a reproductive rights organization based in Mexico City that was part of a years-long campaign for reform, issued a statement after the ruling.
“No woman or pregnant person, nor any health worker, will be punished for abortion,” GIRE wrote.
“From GIRE we trust that the country’s entities, whose legislation still hinders reproductive autonomy, take into account the criteria of the highest court of justice in order to guarantee the right to decide for women and people with the capacity to gestate.”