Mexico has decriminalized abortion, but nationwide access remains
elusive
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[September 09, 2023]
By Gabriella Borter
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - In a sweeping decision that would have once
seemed almost impossible in this Catholic country, where women were
jailed for ending pregnancies, Mexico's Supreme Court this week declared
it unconstitutional for the federal government to criminalize abortion.
It was a huge victory for abortion rights advocates who have pushed for
such a comprehensive ruling since 2021, when Mexico's top Court first
struck down a law criminalizing abortion in the northern state of
Coahuila.
The ruling set a significant legal precedent and paved the way for the
federal health system to begin providing abortion services and broaden
access dramatically. At some point, that might even make Mexico an
increasingly important destination for U.S. abortion-seekers fleeing
more restrictive laws.
But Mexican abortion rights advocates say the ruling's promise of
expanding abortion access will not become a reality overnight and could
depend on the political and legislative will of the federal government.
Aside from safeguarding abortion patients and providers from
prosecution, the ruling will have limited impact on access until the
federal public health system starts providing abortion services. The
federal system has, until now, only been legally obliged to do so in
cases of rape or to preserve the mother's health.
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Maria Antonieta Alcalde, Latin America and Caribbean director of
reproductive rights organization IPAS, said the practical implementation
of abortion services - via pill or surgery - should be a minimal lift
for the national health ministry, which provides a full spectrum of
healthcare services for the majority of the population.
"The point here is not capacity, the point here is political will,"
Alcalde said.
A spokesperson for the health ministry did not return a request for
comment.
How quickly federal services begin could depend on who wears the
presidential sash.
While current President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has carefully
avoided expressing his own views on abortion, both of the female
candidates recently nominated to vie for his seat in the June 2024
election support abortion rights.
Claudia Sheinbaum, the former Mexico City mayor tapped to represent the
ruling leftist National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), oversaw the
repeal of gestational limits on abortions in rape cases in Mexico City
in 2021.
Xochitl Galvez, the senator chosen to represent the main opposition
coalition, has broken from her center-right party’s anti-abortion
platform to support abortion rights.
As president, either candidate would be tasked with overseeing
implementation of the court's ruling, including deciding the conditions
for legal abortions and budgeting for reproductive health services.
"Their vision on abortion and their support to provide abortions, I
think that will be critical," Alcalde said.
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![](../images/090923PIX/health29.jpg)
A banner reading: "Abortion Out of the Penal Code" hangs from a
building during International Women's Day, at the Zocalo Square in
Mexico City, Mexico March 8, 2023. REUTERS/Quetzalli Nicte-Ha/File
Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Sep/09/images/ads/current/napa_lda_FILTERSALE_090623.png) U.S. ABORTION-SEEKERS LOOK TO MEXICO
The decriminalization of abortion in Mexico follows a cascade of
reproductive rights advancements in Latin America in recent years
after a long period of strict bans. According to Mexico's
Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE), the advocacy group
that brought the case to the Supreme Court, 172 people in Mexico
were imprisoned for illegal abortions from January 2010 to January
2020.
It also starkly contrasts with the elimination of rights in the
United States.
Since the United States Supreme Court struck down the federal right
to abortion in June 2022, U.S. abortion seekers have increasingly
turned to Mexico, where a well-oiled machine of informal volunteer
networks have provided abortion-inducing pills to residents for
years.
Mexico’s court ruling this week could make it much easier to end a
pregnancy anywhere in the country, through state-run clinics as well
as informal operations, potentially making the country even more of
an abortion destination for Americans.
"It opens more possibilities. They will have even more options in
Mexico," said Veronica Cruz, the founder of Las Libres, a volunteer
network based in the state of Guanajuato that saw an influx of U.S.
women seeking abortion pills after the Supreme Court overturned Roe
v. Wade.
Now that Mexico's federal government is under court order to remove
abortion from the federal penal code, abortion rights advocates
expect the national congress will soon draft legislation to add
abortion regulations to the federal health code.
Lawmakers will have to decide the conditions under which abortions
will be legal in Mexico, including a gestational limit. Then,
abortion rights advocates expect they will add a provision to the
general health law, which would set regulations at state level as
well.
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Just 12 of 32 Mexican states have removed abortion from their local
penal codes. But this kind of federal law, proactively legalizing
abortion, would offer legal protection to abortion patients in all
states.
Isabel Fulda, deputy director at GIRE, said it was hard to estimate
a timeframe in which abortion would become universally accessible in
Mexico, but the group stood ready to contest any federal resistance
to provide services.
"In reality, implementation takes time," she said.
(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and
Josie Kao)
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