Legal safeguards protecting the unborn in Mexico have been deemed ‘unconstitutional’ by the country’s Supreme Court.
In a draft ruling published last week, the Court stated that criminal penalties for abortion should be struck down, claiming they ‘violated’ the human rights of women.
The ruling came in response to legal action by abortion activists challenging Mexico’s pro-life laws.
Fight for life
Marcial Padilla – Director of pro-life group ConParticipación – said the decision “does not directly alter the Federal Penal Code, since this would have to be done by senators and representatives”.
In 2020, four of the Court’s five justices voted to overturn a lower court’s decision to decriminalise abortion in the state of Veracruz.
The new judgment opens the way for the decriminalisation of abortion across Mexico.
US
Irma Barrientos, the Director of the Civil Association for the Rights of the Conceived, vowed to keep fighting for the unborn.
“Let’s remember what happened in the United States,” she said. After decades, she observed, “the Supreme Court reversed its abortion decision and we’re not going to stop until Mexico guarantees the right to life from the moment of conception”.
Fifteen US states have now introduced firm safeguards protecting the unborn since the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022.
According to #WeCount, an estimated 25,640 fewer abortions took place nationwide in the nine months following the judgment which returned abortion law to state legislatures.
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