The Long Quest for Reproductive Justice in Mexico: Feminist Legal Strategies and Challenges to Changing Abortion Precedent in a Federal System

Alma Beltrán y Puga
January 15, 2024

As the Green Wave echoes throughout the Latin American feminist movement, the Mexican legal system has progressed accordingly. Feminist legal groups have adopted innovative legal strategies to solidify the right to abortion at the federal level, but state-level protections are still needed to satisfy the “my body, my choice” chants taking place in the streets. Similar to how feminist advocacy groups have gradually influenced legal theory, legal changes attempt to counter the conservative, religious perspective on bodily autonomy in Mexico.

Mexico has entered the international spotlight due to a recent federal Supreme Court ruling protecting abortion rights. This groundbreaking decision has resulted from the feminist movement’s continuous litigation and the Court’s 2021 case law both of which have promoted reproductive justice in Latin America. While innovative legal strategies in the feminist movement have characterized the fight for reproductive justice, Mexico’s federalist system presents ongoing challenges to abortion litigation in Mexico. The Supreme Court of Mexico’s major rulings regarding reproductive rights and the challenges of implementing this comprehensive constitutional jurisprudence in a federal system will be discussed.

Continued: https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2024/01/15/the-long-quest-for-reproductive-justice-in-mexico-feminist-legal-strategies-and-challenges-to-changing-abortion-precedent-in-a-federal-system/

15.01.2024

Information Group on Reproductive Choice

The US Supreme Court took away abortion rights. Mexico’s high court just did the opposite.

Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY
Sept 9, 2023

A ruling this week by Mexico’s Supreme Court to decriminalize abortion continues a broadening push in recent years to expand abortion access in Latin America, placing the region more in line with global reproductive-rights trends than the United States, where Roe v. Wade was struck down last year.

Counter-intuitively, the Mexican court's decision toward opening up abortion access comes in a country with lower support for abortion rights than in the United States, where abortion access has been widely restricted in recent months.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/09/09/mexicos-highest-court-opened-up-abortion-rights/70797288007/

EXPLAINER: Abortion access has expanded but remains difficult in Mexico. How does it work now?

Fabiola Sanchez, The Associated Press
Sep 08, 2023

MEXICO CITY — The decision by Mexico’s Supreme Court ending federal criminal penalties for abortion was a boost to activists who waged decades-long campaigns for safe abortion access nationwide. The mostly Catholic country still has significant barriers to overcome before Mexican women gain universal access.

Twenty of Mexico ‘s 32 states have laws classifying abortion as a crime that allow exceptions only in cases of rape. Some also include exceptions if the mother’s life is in danger, or if there are severe fetal anomalies.

Continued: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/explainer-abortion-access-has-expanded-but-remains-difficult-in-mexico-how-does-it-work-now

08.09.2023

Commentary

abortion law reform

GIRE

Information Group on Reproductive Choice

Mexico’s Supreme Court upholds abortion rights nationwide, paving way for federal access

By Gabriella Borter
September 6, 2023

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a federal law criminalizing abortion, reaffirming an earlier ruling that criminal penalties for abortion were unconstitutional and allowing the federal healthcare system to provide services.

Mexico's highest court, which consists of 11 justices, declared that criminal penalties for abortion were unconstitutional in 2021, but the ruling only applied to the northern state of Coahuila, where that case originated.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexicos-supreme-court-upholds-abortion-rights-nationwide-paving-way-federal-2023-09-06/

06.09.2023

News

abortion law reform

GIRE

Information Group on Reproductive Choice

Volunteer networks in Mexico aid at-home abortions without involving doctors or clinics. They’re coming to Texas.

Before abortion was legal in parts of Mexico, an extensive “accompaniment” system grew to help women safely terminate pregnancies on their own. Its organizers are now moving abortion-inducing medication across the border and helping replicate the system in the United States.

BY ALEXA URA AND GRETA DÍAZ GONZÁLEZ VÁZQUEZ
AUG. 4, 2022

MONTERREY, Mexico — Hi, I’m four weeks pregnant. Eight weeks. Six weeks.

The stream of pings and messages through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp reach Sandra Cardona Alanís at her home in this mountainous region of northern Mexico. She is an acompañante and a founder of Necesito Abortar México, a volunteer network that has helped thousands of people across Mexico access abortion, usually at home, by providing medication and support.

Continued: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/08/04/texas-abortion-mexico-volunteer-networks/

“Green Tide” Reaches Mexico as Oaxaca Decriminalizes Abortion

“Green Tide” Reaches Mexico as Oaxaca Decriminalizes Abortion
Oaxaca's monumental decision last week to decriminalize abortion is part of a larger "Green Tide" movement across Latin America.

October 3, 2019
Cecilia Nowell

The chambers of the state legislature in Oaxaca, Mexico, exploded with shouts of joy and rage September 25 as the region voted to decriminalize first-trimester abortions in a 24-10 vote. In the gallery, Catholic protesters chanted, “Assassins! Assassins!” while awaiting the vote. But when the decision was announced, feminist activists, clad in the green bandanas that have become the symbol of the Latin American pro-abortion movement, broke out in shouts of “Latin America will be entirely feminist.”

The vote exemplified the division between Mexicos deep Catholic, traditionally anti-abortion roots and its growing feminist movements. This tension was on full display in the chambers. Feminist activist Patricia Matus was one of the women celebrating in the legislature when the vote was announced. “The environment was horrible,” she said, describing pro-life demonstrators holding mass outside the state building, a verbal argument between male and female representatives that nearly delayed the vote, and shouting in the gallery.

Continued: https://nacla.org/news/2019/10/03/oaxaca-abortion-decriminalization-green-tide

Mexico’s Exciting Supreme Court Win for Women and Girls’ Access to Abortion

Mexico’s Exciting Supreme Court Win for Women and Girls’ Access to Abortion
“This sets a precedent for the whole country. This gives us hope and empowers victims of rape because they know now that the court is on their side.”

Amie Newman
May 14, 2018

Marimar* was 17 years old when she was raped and impregnated by her attacker. She reported the crime to the authorities in Morelos, Mexico where she lived and requested an abortion. The prosecutor’s office sent her to the hospital. Although abortion is legal in the case of rape in Mexico, the bioethics committee at Cuernavaca General Hospital where she sought help kept her in the hospital for two weeks, eventually denying her an abortion.

In 2016 Fernanda* was raped by an acquaintance and became pregnant. She requested access to an abortion, several times, from the health services of Oaxaca. The hospital was on strike and did not do anything but acknowledge receipt of her requests. Fernanda, like Marimar, was denied access to abortion care.

Continued: https://medium.com/@amienewman/mexicos-exciting-supreme-court-win-for-women-and-girls-access-to-abortion-9bab0d905c41