Placards: Legal abortion, forced pregnancy is torture
Mexico’s southwestern state of Guerrero voted on 17 May 2022 to allow abortions, making it the ninth of the country’s 32 federal states where women can legally end a pregnancy. The new law removes the punishment of 1–3 years imprisonment from the Penal Code, passed with 30 votes in favour and 13 against. The new law still criminalises anyone who helps a woman have an abortion after 12 weeks, including healthcare workers, however.
Lawmaker Beatriz Mojica introduced and supported the bill along with fellow lawmakers from the ruling Morena party, because it upholds women’s rights – even though she is personally against abortion. “As a legislator, I can’t judge a single woman for the decision she makes. Women are free to make their own decisions,” she said.
SOURCE: Reuters, by Brendan O’Boyle, Daina Beth Solomon, 17 May 2022 + PHOTO by Daniel Becerril/Reuters, 12 September 2021
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Minors who have been raped can request abortion without parental consent
Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled on 24 May 2022 that an underage girl can get an abortion without parental consent if she had been raped. The Court also said it was not necessary to have filed a crime report about the rape; the victim only has to swear she was raped.
The Supreme Court held last year that it was unconstitutional to punish abortion. This ruling barred all jurisdictions from charging a woman with a crime for terminating a pregnancy. Statutes outlawing abortion are still on the books in most of Mexico’s 32 states, however.
As Mexico’s highest court, the eleven justices currently include four women.
SOURCES: KVOA, by Meleny Gradillas, 24 May 2022 ; Wikipedia, accessed 31 May 2022