Mexico’s Quintana Roo state decriminalises abortion

The transfer comes a couple of 12 months after Mexico’s Supreme Courtroom dominated that penalising abortion was unconstitutional.

A woman yells during a protest for abortion rights in Mexico City
'The battle is bearing fruit,' the Quintana Roo Feminist Community mentioned after the profitable vote to decriminalise abortion at 12 weeks of being pregnant within the Mexican state [File: Paola Garcia/Reuters]

The Mexican state of Quintana Roo has voted to decriminalise abortion, changing into the newest space to ease restrictions on the process as a part of a “inexperienced wave” demanding better reproductive rights throughout Latin America.

Nineteen lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favour with three in opposition to, approving a change within the legislation that might decriminalise abortion for ladies as much as 12 weeks pregnant and take away a requirement for rape victims to report their abuser to entry abortion.

“The battle is bearing fruit,” the Quintana Roo Feminist Community mentioned on Twitter. “We are going to insist that abortion isn't solely authorized, but additionally free and protected.”

GIRE, a reproductive rights group in Mexico, additionally welcomed the choice, saying extra areas of the nation now grant individuals “the precise to determine” on abortion. “The inexperienced tide continues to advance in Latin America,” Deliberate Parenthood tweeted.

Abortions grew to become authorized in Mexico Metropolis 15 years in the past, and final 12 months the nation’s Supreme Courtroom unanimously dominated that penalising abortion was unconstitutional.

Whereas rights activists have campaigned to take away state sanctions to make sure girls can freely entry abortions, fewer than a dozen of Mexico’s 32 states have since tailored their legal guidelines.

The early morning vote in Quintana Roo additionally got here amid a wave of abortion rights victories in Latin America, together with in Argentina, which in late 2020 legalised elective abortions till the 14th week of being pregnant.

Ecuador in April 2021 legalised abortion in instances of rape, whereas girls’s rights advocates in different nations within the area – the place the Catholic Church, which opposes abortion, continues to wield a robust affect – are pushing to loosen restrictive abortion legal guidelines, as nicely.

The push throughout the area comes as america has gone in the other way after the US Supreme Courtroom in June overturned its landmark Roe v Wade abortion ruling.

The highest court docket’s transfer, which upended the constitutional proper to abortion throughout the US, prompted an outpouring of anger and protests from rights activists who warned that Black and low-income individuals could be disproportionately harmed.

Since Roe was overturned, a number of Republican-led states have enacted abortion restrictions or outright bans on the process.

Latin American activists have mentioned they continue to be undeterred by the US abortion rights rollback, with some even pledging to assist girls within the US entry abortion and different reproductive healthcare providers.

Again in Mexico’s Quintana Roo, Deputy Cinthya Millan, who opposed the abortion reform, mentioned the session’s early morning schedule meant some voices had not been heard.

The state Congress in March had rejected an analogous invoice to decriminalise abortion there.

However Deputy Hugo Alday mentioned after the vote that Quintana Roo had an obligation to reform its legal guidelines in accordance with social dynamics and the federal pact.

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