Currently, of Mexico`s 32 states, only 9 recognize abortion as a right of women who can opt for a legal termination of pregnancy up to the 12th week of pregnancy and one state until the 13th week of pregnancy. Mexico City is the institution whose legislation has decriminalized abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy for the longest period (2007). Then come Oaxaca (2019) and more recently Veracruz, Hidalgo, Baja California and Colima (2021), Sinaloa up to 13 weeks (2022), Guerrero and Baja California Sur in 2022. Abortion is legal if your pregnancy is the result of unwanted artificial insemination performed without your consent. This ground is defined in article 136, section II, of the Criminal Code. Although the bill never passed the Chamber of Deputies, this is the first time that feminist groups advocating legal abortion have a political ally in the Union Congress. [156] [162] [159] Discourse that promotes prejudice against abortion has been reinforced by reforms that the Court has also©declared unconstitutional, granting legal protection to “human life from conception,” based on the Sinaloa Constitution. Another 19 institutions approved similar reforms© from 2008 to March 2021. “We hope that it will not be difficult for congresses to approve this decision of the Court and that there will be no resistance, especially with the efforts of anti-abortion groups to restrict this right,” Salguero warns.
The Federal Social Security System (IMSS, ISSSTE or ISSFAM) may not perform legal abortions for reasons or cases not provided for in the Federal Criminal Code. Although the General Health Act does not specifically mention abortion, according to the CSYK precedent, personal protections can be requested so that federal institutions guarantee abortions for the cause of serious health harm. According to article 150 of the Criminal Code, abortion is not punishable if it is performed by a doctor or other qualified health professional with the consent of the woman or her spouse, partner, close relative or legal representative, if she is unable to perform it, if the life or health of the pregnant woman is in danger and if this risk is endangered. It cannot be prevented by other means and if the pregnancy is due to rape in a woman with an intellectual disability. Articles 147 to 149 specify the cases in which abortion is punishable and the penalties to be imposed. It is punishable by 5 to 7 years` imprisonment for anyone who has aborted a woman who did not consent, and if the woman consented, by imprisonment for 1 to 3 years. It is punishable by imprisonment from six months to 2 years if the woman voluntarily consents to or induces the abortion. In the event that the means used for the purpose of abortion of a woman cause her death, the person who requested or indicated it shall be punished by 7 to 10 years` imprisonment if the woman has consented to the abortion; and imprisonment for 13 to 16 years if the woman did not consent. Over a nine-year period ±from 2007 to 2016, Gire documented more than 4,000 complaints nationwide for the crime of abortion, the equivalent of one per day. According to the report, which is based on requests for information in all states, 228 ended with a conviction and 136 with a prison sentence. “Criminal proceedings work like a kind of funnel, the number of complaints is quite considerable, but there are fewer that end up in prison,” says Fulda.
In 29 states, prison sentences range from 15 days to 6,± years, including Mexico City©, where an abortion after the 12th week is punishable by©three to six months. These penalties should be abolished in each of the local conventions, Fulda says. Voluntary abortion has been fully decriminalized and legalized since March 2022 up to the thirteenth week of pregnancy due to amendments to the Penal Code, the Health Code, the Law on Women`s Access to a Non-Violent Life, the Civil Code and the Family Code. However, in 2017, the Attorney General at the time, Raúl Cervantes Andrade, promoted before the SCJN the unconstitutionality action AI 148/2017 against several articles of the recently reformed Coahuila de Zaragoza Penal Code, particularly in the criminalization of elective abortions, as it violates women`s rights to autonomy and reproductive freedom. It was only on 7 September 2021 that 10 of the 11 ministers in the plenary gave reason and voted for the complete nullity of these sections. Not only that, but due to the new legal system for this type of jurisprudence, abortion is now de facto decriminalized throughout the country. [204] [92] [91] [205] As noted above, provincial women are only legally entitled to have an abortion if they are in one of the cases authorized by their state. Otherwise, the only way to have a legal and safe abortion is to move to Mexico City. In this unit, provincial women, foreign women or city residents can terminate a pregnancy for up to 12 weeks and 6 days, for any reason, provided they meet the necessary conditions for the ISLAND.
Although the law allows girls and young women under the age of 18 to terminate an unwanted pregnancy in CDMX, they must meet certain conditions to have an abortion as minors. The most important thing is that if they want to terminate the pregnancy in a clinic of the Ministry of Health of the DF government, they must be accompanied by their father, mother or guardian with a legal ID. Some collectives and associations point out that it is difficult to know the exact number of people convicted because there is no clear information, it is incomplete or it simply does not exist. In other cases, the authorities were unwilling to cooperate and the data arrives very late (or never arrives). [232] [233] However, these organizations estimate that by 2021, approximately 200 women would be deprived of their freedom to have an abortion. Segob, for its part, ensures, through Conavim, that 432 investigation files were opened between January and July 2021 and that they are verified to assist in the release of convicts, thus complying with the provisions of the SCJN in September 2021. [234] [235] If the continuation of the pregnancy is life-threatening, you can request a legal abortion (even if the risk is not immediate). The purpose of this law is to regulate access to abortion and post-abortion treatment in accordance with the commitments made by the Argentine State with regard to public health and the human rights of women and persons with other gender identities with the capacity to become pregnant and to contribute to the reduction of avoidable morbidity and mortality. It enshrines the right of women and gender-diverse people who may become pregnant to decide on and access termination of pregnancy before the fourteenth (14th) week of pregnancy. The World Health Organization has proposed to address the problem of unsafe abortion for women by proposing to legalize abortion, train medical personnel and ensure access to reproductive health and family planning services. [253] Currently, few facilities consider mitigating factors for consensual abortions.
Before 2021, they served to shorten time spent in prison, but almost all of them are based on outdated and sexist stereotypes and prejudices. These can be honor clauses (included in the Federal Penal Code and various articles of 3 other local codes) or parental clauses (included only in 2 local codes). In general, the first is not to have a “bad reputation”, not to have hidden the “shame”, not to have hidden the pregnancy, or that it would not have been carried out outside of a “legitimate union”, cohabitation or union outside marriage. In the latter case, the father had to have given his consent to the abortion or live with the mother and fulfill the “obligations inherent in the union”. [34] [35] According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 800 women worldwide die every day from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Most of these deaths are preventable and a very large percentage correspond to women in vulnerable situations: rural, indigenous, Afro-descendant and poor. Direct causes of maternal mortality include eclampsia and preeclampsia, bleeding, infections and unsafe abortions.
