Mexico joins the trend in Latin America in decriminalizing abortion on the Federal level.

by Jeff Abbott, The Progressive

On September 6, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled against the federal criminal code that prohibited abortions, decriminalizing the procedure across the country.

“The legal system that penalizes abortion in the Federal Criminal Code is unconstitutional since it violates the human rights of women and people with the ability to carry a fetus,” the Supreme Court announced on social media.

protestors in mexico hold a pro abortion sign

The decision comes in response to a legal appeal presented by the Information Group for Chosen Reproduction, or GIRE, a women’s reproductive rights group. Mexico’s two congressional chambers now must pass a law officially decriminalizing abortion, a process that could take years.

The announcement was praised by members of the Mexican feminist movement, which has struggled to expand reproductive rights. “It has us particularly satisfied,” Isabel Fulda, the subdirector of GIRE, tells The Progressive. “It is an enormous step.”

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