MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Abortion legal nationwide, Mexico's Supreme Court rules

Those currently prosecuted or convicted of abortion practices must now be acquitted, Justice Ana Margarita Ríos Farjat argued

Mexico's Supreme Court Wednesday ruled in favor of suppressing the articles of the Federal Criminal Code criminalizing the termination of pregnancy, thus turning abortion legal nationwide, it was reported.

In response to an injunction filed by the organization Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE) against Congress and the Federal Executive for “having issued a regulation that criminalizes abortion” in September 2021 in the Penal Code of Coahuila, the magistrates found “the legal system that criminalizes abortion in the Federal Criminal Code” was “unconstitutional since it violates the human rights of women and persons with gestational capacity.”

Senator Olga Sanchez Cordero explained that the Court's resolution means that no authority has the power to sanction anyone who goes for an abortion or who performs it in any health institution. However, she clarified that an injunction must still be filed to carry out the procedure. Congress still has to legislate on the issue, but public clinics and hospitals must provide the service free of charge.

“Women or pregnant women or pregnant women who have been prosecuted or sentenced for having an abortion must be acquitted,” she insisted.

“Since these are rules of a criminal nature, in terms of the provisions of Article 14 of the Constitution, it is appropriate to establish retroactive effects for the benefit of those persons who are currently being prosecuted or sentenced for this crime,” states a draft penned by Justice Ana Margarita Ríos Farjat.

Feminist organizations celebrated cautiously because penal codes in various states would need to be reformed to guarantee that no woman is criminalized for having an abortion. So far, only 12 States have adjusted their local laws, allowing women to terminate a pregnancy up to the 12th week on average.

“With this decision of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, federal health institutions throughout the country will have to provide abortion services to women and persons with gestational capacity who request it,” GIRE celebrated in a statement.

The injunction was against four articles of the Federal Criminal Code (CPF) that still maintain prison sanctions for women who resort to abortion, in any of its hypotheses. The ruling also orders Congress to repeal these provisions.