The Coahuila decision, which considered the penalties for abortion unconstitutional in 2021, started a process – other states adhered to impunity for abortion. Most recently, Aguascalientes decriminalized abortion last week, becoming the twelfth out of 31 states to do so.
The Supreme Court had already declared the absolute ban on abortion unconstitutional in 2021. However, the penal code still provided for prison sentences of up to five years for abortion. Now, sentences that have been in force since 1931 must be canceled across the country by the decision of the highest court.
The court wrote on Twitter (X) that it had ruled that “the legal system that criminalizes abortion in the Federal Penal Code is unconstitutional because it violates the human rights of women and people of childbearing age.”
The First Room #LaCorte resolved that the legal system that penalizes abortion in the Federal Penal Code is unconstitutional, as it violates the human rights of women and people capable of carrying a child.
— Supreme Court (@SCJN) September 6, 2023
“Green Wave”
The decision follows a broader sociopolitical trend in Latin America to lift restrictions on abortion. This is often referred to as the “green wave”. Argentina decriminalized abortion in 2020 and Colombia the year before.
However, in its northern neighbor, the USA, developments are going in the opposite direction: in the summer of 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe vs. Wade ruling. Wade to protect the right to abortion in the US. Numerous conservatively governed states subsequently banned abortion or severely restricted access. The result is that many women in the United States now seek help from organizations in Mexico to obtain medication for pregnancy abortion.
Healthcare professionals also need not fear any punishment
The Mexican NGO GIRE, which filed the lawsuit, celebrated Wednesday’s decision. “No woman, pregnant woman or healthcare professional can still be punished for having an abortion,” he said in a statement. Because now health facilities would also have to perform abortions if they wanted to. According to the decision, public hospitals across the country must now also grant the right to free abortion.