The Supreme Court of Mexico decriminalizes abortion at the federal level

2023-09-06 22:51:31

MADRID, 6 (EUROPA PRESS)

The Supreme Court of Mexico has unanimously approved this Wednesday to decriminalize abortion at the federal level after an appeal filed by a feminist organization that demanded that several articles of the Penal Code be declared unconstitutional.

The first Chamber of the Court (SCJN) has reported on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, that the legal system that penalizes abortion is “unconstitutional”, since it “violates the Human Rights of women and people with the capacity to gestate”.

In this way, the administrative authorities, such as the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) and Pemex, must abide by the ruling at the federal level.

“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 people with the capacity to gestate who request it,” the organization said in a statement. Selected Reproduction Information Group (GIRE).

Specifically, GIRE had requested that articles 330, 331, 332, 333 and 334 of the Penal Code be declared unconstitutional, which impose prison sentences on pregnant people for terminating their pregnancy, as well as on medical personnel for carrying out the procedure.

The sentence determines that the previously mentioned articles will no longer have effect while the decision will be applied retroactively for the benefit of the people prosecuted or sentenced for this crime, according to the newspaper ‘Milenio’.

The ruling comes after the court declared the criminalization of abortion in Coahuila unconstitutional in 2021, while a second decision removed a section of the Sinaloa constitution that protected life from the moment of conception.

Although the ruling set a precedent to replicate the decision in other states, it was up to the federal entities to change the laws. Months later, the wave of decriminalization reached Veracruz, Hidalgo, Mexico City, Baja California, and Oaxaca.