Mexico Supreme Court officially decriminalises abortion
Mexico’s Supreme Court has decriminalized abortion nationwide. (Getty Images)
The Mexican Supreme Court has officially ruled to decriminalise abortion across the nation, it was announced on Wednesday (6 September).
In a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter, the Supreme Court declared that “the legal system that criminalized abortion in the Federal Penal Code is unconstitutional [because] it violates the human rights of women and people with the ability to gestate.”
This landmark ruling means any federal public health service or federal health institution must offer abortion to any patient who requests it.
It comes two years after abortion was decriminalised in the country’s northern state of Coahuila- a decision that catalysed the gradual decriminalisation of abortion in Mexico, state by state, before this week’s sweeping ruling.
Just last week, the central state of Aguascalientes became the 12th state to legalise abortion.
Judges in Mexican states that still outlaw abortion will now have to take the Supreme Court’s ruling into account.
Commenting on this week’s decriminalisation, GIRE, a reproductive rights group in Mexico City, said in a statement: “No woman or pregnant person, nor any health worker will be able to be punished for abortion.”
This is just the latest in a “green wave” across Latin America to ease up on abortion restrictions.
Paving the way for Mexico were Argentina, which decriminalised the procedure in 2020, and Colombia, which did the same in 2022.
