The green tide in Mexico achieved a new conquest this Tuesday. The Nation’s Supreme Court (SCJN) has decriminalized abortion at the federal level across the country. This unanimous decision of the highest court obliges federal public health institutions, such as the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), the Institute of Security and Social Services of State Employees (ISSSTE) or Pemex, to offer the service free of charge. In addition, the court’s decision states that under no circumstances should medical personnel be criminalized. This decision is another step towards abortion freedom after the historical precedent of 2021.
It was only two years ago that the Supreme Court affirmed the course of the feminist struggle. The court ruled that no woman should go to prison for having an abortion, forcing judges to dismiss the criminal case if they became aware of it. In addition, the SCJN ordered the state of Coahuila, where the unconstitutionality lawsuit was filed, to amend its penal code. This step should be the first for the remaining entities in Mexico to remove penalties for abortion from their legislation, since the highest court in Mexico prevents any sanction. However, progress since then has been very uneven and only 11 of the 32 states had changed their legislation.
This Tuesday, thanks to the protection of the feminist organization Gire, the First Chamber of the Court decided: “The legal system that criminalizes abortion in the Federal Criminal Code is unconstitutional because it violates the human rights of women and persons capable of giving birth.” This raises several questions Progress: On the one hand, abortion can no longer be criminalized, but federal health facilities must also offer this service. This was one of the main struggles of women’s rights organizations.
In addition, it includes an amendment to the Federal Criminal Code to eliminate the crime of abortion, which is defined in Article 329 as “the death of the product of conception at any time during pregnancy” and provides for a penalty of one to three years for those who “have one Make a woman have an abortion,” even if she agrees to it. It also included a professional ban of two to five years for doctors who practiced this profession.
“This is the greatest progress we have made in this fight,” Isabel Fulda, deputy director of Gire, told EL PAÍS. On the one hand, removing the criminal offense of abortion from federal law “sends a message” and “removes the stigma,” says Fulda, but is also crucial because this is the argument used to prevent abortions from being carried out in the centers. public doctors.
“The fact that it was in the Federal Criminal Code was used as a reason to deny access to these facilities, health workers refused to perform abortions,” explains the activist, citing the numerous cases that Gire has accompanied, “now it is open .” the door to these services in the federal institutions that serve most of the country: around 70% of the population has IMSS, ISSSTE or IMSS Bienestar.”
Two years ago, the fight against criminalization was won, so that no more women were in prison for abortions. Now real access to abortion is being faked. “The big question of implementation still remains,” says Fulda, “because there is a big gap between permitted abortion and actual abortion,” explains the activist, pointing to the need for supplies and training for medical staff.
Even at the judicial level, the fight is not over yet. In Mexico, partial access to abortion is allowed, in most cases up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, in Mexico City, Oaxaca, Hidalgo and Veracruz – where it was approved before the court’s 2021 decision – and was approved as a result of the court’s order in Coahuila, Baja California, Colima, Sinaloa, Guerrero, Baja California Sur and Aguascalientes, the latter just a week ago thanks to an injunction also from Gire. Now the rest is missing.
The feminist organization, explains its deputy director, has already presented a further 21 protective measures for states that still need to amend their criminal codes. Isabel Fulda explains that this can create a domino effect of local congresses removing abortion from legislation, or it can be the opposite: “It helps the most conservative states that it is the Supreme Court that forces them to do it.” They don’t cover the political costs.”
The lighthouse on the horizon is Colombia. Colombian feminist organizations have succeeded in decriminalizing abortion up to 24 weeks and are now working to completely remove this crime from the penal code. “Today was a huge, historic step forward, but it remains limited,” says Fulda, “The horizon is that abortion will completely disappear from the regulations and be regulated as a health service.”
Subscribe here Subscribe to the EL PAÍS México newsletter and receive all the important information on current events in this country