Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalises abortion

In a landmark ruling, Mexico’s Supreme Court Tuesday decriminalised abortion as it struck down several provisions of a law from Coahuila state. The decision establishes “obligatory criteria for all of the country’s judges,” said court President Arturo Zaldívar after a unanimous 10-0 ruling, which will immediately only affect the northern border state.  28 of Mexico’s 32 states have laws that punish abortion with some exceptions. Oaxaca, Veracruz, Hidalgo and Mexico City have legalised the procedure under most circumstances.

While the court had previously ruled in favor of women who had been imprisoned over abortions, Tuesday’s ruling was the first time the justices had debated whether abortion should be considered a crime or not in the predominantly Catholic country, according to Mexican feminist organization GIRE.

Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay and Guyana are the only Latin American countries that allow abortion during the early stages of pregnancy:

The conservative National Action Party opposed the court ruling. “We are in favor of defending life from the moment of conception until natural death,” it said in a statement.

Last week, in the severest setback to abortion rights in the US, the country’s Supreme Court failed to block a high court ruling in favour of a law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy in Texas. Signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott in May, the law prohibits abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, except for “medical emergencies”, and allows individual to sue doctors who perform an abortion after the said duration.

Advocacy groups such as Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union said the law would force many clinics to close and deny millions of women access to abortion. US President Joe Biden said that he was directing federal agencies and the White House gender policy council to respond and ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions.

(With Inputs from Associated Press)