Abortion is decriminalised in Mexico as “green wave” sweeps the region
BMJ 2023; 382 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p2060 (Published 08 September 2023) Cite this as: BMJ 2023;382:p2060Read the series: Latin America’s global leadership in health
Mexico’s Supreme Court has repealed a law criminalising abortion, in the latest cause for celebration for reproductive rights activists around the world.
The ruling will open up access to safe abortion for the more than 65 million women in the largely Catholic country and is the latest liberalisation of abortion rights in Latin America, where access to abortion has increased rapidly in recent years.
“The decision issued [on 6 September] by Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice is a milestone in the fight for reproductive rights in the region,” said Cristina Rosero, senior legal adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean at the New York based Center for Reproductive Rights. “This is really important, as it establishes first that the criminalisation of abortion is unconstitutional as it violates the fundamental rights of women, girls, trans, and non-binary people. Also, as it establishes specific obligations for healthcare providers to provide abortion in a safe way to all those who request it.”
Mexico’s Supreme Court had ruled in 2021 that penalising women for terminating pregnancies was unconstitutional, but the ruling applied only to the state of Coahuila in the north of the country. Twelve other states, including Mexico City—which in 2007 was the first of Mexico’s 32 states to decriminalise abortion—had previously removed penalties for abortion procedures. The new ruling applies at a federal level, however, meaning that criminal penalties in any part of the country are now deemed unconstitutional.
Healthcare workers
The case was made by an abortion rights group, the Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE). The court, comprising 11 judges, concluded unanimously that denying women access to abortion services violated their human rights.
“In cases of rape, no girl can be forced to become a mother—neither by the state nor by her parents nor her guardians,” said the head of the Supreme Court, Arturo Zaldívar.1 The court’s decision should make access to abortion easier by ensuring that national healthcare providers offer the service without objection.
Amelia Ojeda Sosa, legal coordinator of the Psychological, Sexological and Educational Care Unit for Personal Growth based in Merida, Yucatan state, said, “Health services at a federal level can no longer deny abortion requests from women, nor can they punish medical staff who perform these procedures. It’s important, as [although] it was already decriminalised in many states, health services there have still refused to carry out those services.”
The criminal laws of some states still stipulate that abortion is a criminal offence, although that should begin to change after the national precedent set by the Supreme Court, said Ojeda Sosa. As well as women who request a termination of pregnancy, the ruling protects the healthcare workers who perform them from any legal recriminations.
A recent wave of abortion rights rulings, credited to a women’s rights movement known as the “green wave,” has opened up access to abortion for the more than 300 million women living in Latin America. Argentina legalised abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy in 2020 and was followed by Colombia in 2022, where the procedure is permitted in the first 24 weeks.2
Countries that apply blanket bans, such as El Salvador, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic, are increasingly becoming outliers.