[Court orders Coahuila to remove sanctions for abortion from
criminal code, clearing a path to decriminalisation across Mexico]
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MEXICO’S SUPREME COURT RULES CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR ABORTION
UNCONSTITUTIONAL  
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David Agren
September 7, 2021
The Guardian
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_ Court orders Coahuila to remove sanctions for abortion from
criminal code, clearing a path to decriminalisation across Mexico _

Women hold green handkerchiefs during a protest in support of legal
and safe abortion in Mexico City last year., Edgard Garrido/Reuters

 

Mexico's supreme court has struck down a state abortion law, ruling
that criminal penalties for terminating pregnancies are
unconstitutional, in a decision which advocates say provides a path to
decriminalisation across the country.

In a unanimous 10-0 ruling, the top court ordered the northern state
of Coahuila to remove sanctions for abortion from its criminal code
– with several justices arguing the prohibitions on voluntarily
interrupting a pregnancy violated women’s rights to control their
own bodies.

“It is not about the right to abortion,” said justice Luis María
Aguilar, who wrote the court’s opinion for overturning the Coahuila
law. “It’s rather the right to decide of women and persons able to
gestate to make decisions.”

The ruling contrasts sharply with recent actions in the United States
to restrict abortion access – most notably across the border from
Coahuila in Texas, where legislation – upheld by the US supreme
court – bans abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy
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and allows citizens to pursue legal actions against women seeking a
termination.

But the decision continues a trend in Latin America towards
decriminalization as women waving green handkerchiefs have thronged
the streets across the continent to demand action on abortion
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access and gender violence.

Mexico follows Argentina, where lawmakers voted in December to
decriminalise abortion
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the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Tuesday’s ruling continues a trend from Mexico’s supreme court to
rule in favour of petitions brought by women seeking abortions for
health reasons or due to sexual assault.

It also turns back a spate of state-level attempts over the past dozen
years to restrict abortion
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through constitutional amendments.

“This is the first time the court is getting to the heart of the
matter” on abortion restrictions, said Rebeca Ramos, director of
GIRE, a reproductive rights organisation.

“In this specific case, it’s whether criminalisation, considering
elective abortion at the early stages of pregnancy to be a crime, is
constitutional,” she added. “What’s being resolved is that
it’s not constitutional because it affects a series of human
rights.”

So far, only four Mexican states have decriminalised abortion during
the first 12 weeks of pregnancy – with three state removing
restrictions over the past two years.

Mexico City decriminalised abortion in 2007 and the supreme court
upheld that law as constitutional
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But Ramos said the court did so on the grounds that states were
allowed to set their own health policies. More than half of Mexico’s
32 states subsequently approved constitutional amendments declaring
life to begin at conception.

Those amendments have not stopped the supreme court from ruling in
favour of increased access to abortion, however, and the court is
expected to rule later this week on the constitutionality of an
amendment approved in the state of Sinaloa.

“According to a secular state, the defence and autonomy of privacy
of women must be unconditional, according to her life plan, and
presume that her decision is rational, deliberate and autonomous,”
justice Norma Piña Hernández said in her arguments.

In his argument, Arturo Zaldívar, president of the court, wrote:
“The criminalisation of abortion punishes the poorest women, the
most marginalised, the forgotten and most discriminated against, in
the country. It’s a crime that in its nature punishes poverty.”

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declined comment when asked at
his Tuesday press conference on the pending court decision. The
president has showed little interest in the abortion issue
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even though his ruling Morena party identifies as left-leaning.

“It’s not a secret that [López Obrador] personally opposes the
rights of women to decide and that he sees the feminist movement with
suspicion
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said Barbara González, a political analyst in Monterrey.

But with the decision, González said, the court would be able to
“show independence” in the face of accusations it was being unduly
pressured by López Obrador on other matters.

Mexico’s Catholic church voiced dismay with the ruling, while others
expressed anger over the justices’ decision to refer to “persons
able to gestate” in their arguments.

Bishops have previously lobbied state governors to approve
prohibitions on abortion, said Rodolfo Soriano-Núñez, a sociologist
who studies the Mexican Catholic church, “and in exchange they
stayed silent on issues such as corruption and violence”.

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