cemre türkmen
Tuesday September 7, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that the crime of abortion is unconstitutional, unanimously repealing several articles of a law criminalizing abortion in the state of Coahuila, which borders Texas. The court's president, Arturo Zaldívar, warns that the ruling will immediately affect only the northern border state, but sets a historic precedent and forces it to do the same in similar cases by setting mandatory criteria for all judges in the country. "From now on, without violating the criteria of the court and the Constitution, you will no longer be able to charge a woman who had an abortion in the circumstances that this court finds valid." Only four Mexican States - Mexico City, Oaxaca, Veracruz and Hidalgo-now allow abortion in most cases. 28 other states still have penalties for abortion.
The decision comes a week after a Texas law banned abortion after medical experts detected cardiac activity in the fetus. It allows any private citizen to sue anyone who "helps" a woman and Texas abortion providers who violate the law.
Cruz believes the feminist movement will have to maintain pressure on state legislatures to change their laws, because as long as they exist someone will be trying to punish a woman. “In Mexico, we don’t have any chance of legalizing nor decriminalizing in one go. It has to be state by state,” Cruz said. That is why activists should work in one coordinated strategy to force change region by region, he said, to corner the politicians so that “there’s no way not to legislate” because it would be “politically incorrect to not eliminate the crime of abortion.”
The issue remains controversial in Mexico. Groups from both sides staged a protest in front of the Split Court on Tuesday. Dozens of people prayed and knelt in front of the court.
The Conservative National Action Party reiterated its opposition to abortion. "We support the defense of life from conception to natural death," the party said in a statement. his statement was included. The purpose of the justification is to protect conscientious objections "on ethical, moral or religious grounds."
The Mexican Episcopal Conference sent a series of messages via Twitter, citing earlier comments from church leaders. One dates back to the beginning of the year before the state of Hidalgo voted to decriminalize abortion. "Let your life decision be driven not by ideology but by Faith, Hope and love."
This Supreme Court is more liberal than the one that criminalized abortion in Mexico City in 2007, Bonifaz said. In the years since, he said, not only the judiciary, but also the lawyers who 3make up their teams have been given extensive training from a gender and human rights perspective. Bonifaz said significant changes have long been made for Mexican society through the legislature, but more recently he said "the Mexican judicial system has been a pioneering judicial system in many ways".
In earlier rulings, the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of women imprisoned or whose rights were violated because of abortion. But Rebecca Ramos, director of the nonprofit GIRE, said the latest case is the first time the Justice Department has discussed the fundamental issue of whether to criminalize abortion.
A statement from IWRM said the decision "reflects the feminist movement's historic struggle for legal, safe and free abortion". They hope that across the country, women and people who may become pregnant will have the freedom and conditions to decide their reproductive destiny.
Judge Margarita Ríos Farjat criticized those who said she was trampling on women's rights under the banner of "pro-life." She said women are labeled "ignorant" and "bad or selfish" because of his thoughts that good women end a pregnancy and give the baby up for adoption.
The ruling could potentially open another option for Texas women seeking legal abortions. For years, some women in South Texas have suffered a hemorrhage, half of the two-drug combinations prescribed for medical abortions. They crossed the border to buy misoprostol at Mexican pharmacies. On the other hand, the Mexican Catholic Church expressed its "regret over this decision." Rodolfo Soriano-Núñez, known for his work on the church, said the bishops had lobbied state governors to approve the abortion ban, but remained silent on issues such as corruption and violence.
Comments