Mexico: Top court learning towards abortion law

Mexico’s highest court appears to be leaning in favor of a Mexico City law that decriminalized certain forms of abortions. After three days of deliberations, seven of the eleven Supreme Court judges have backed the controversial law:

José Ramón Cossío Diaz y Juan Silva Meza pointed out that the Constitution doesn’t explicitly mention anything over the right to life…

Cossio said that the project presented by Sergio Salvador Aguirre Anguiano came from the premise that the right to life is an absolute condition.

Yet he believed that the right to life doesn’t exist either constitutionally or internationally. [ed. personal translation]

A minimum of eight judges are needed to uphold the law which was passed last year and decriminalized first semester abortions in Mexico’s capital. Not only is the Supreme Court expected to uphold the law, but according to El Universal they will create a “series of jurisprudential criteria” backing a woman’s right to abort.

The law has been opposed by several influential groups including Mexico’s federal government as well as the Roman Catholic Church.

Since the law went into affect in April 2007, an estimated 12,262 women aged between 18 and 29 have had abortions legally in Mexico City clinics. Yet a New York Times article found that those who have sought abortions face numerous obstacles including from doctors who claim to be conscientious objectors.

Image- BBC News (Pro-choice protestor carries a sign saying “In favor of the right to choose").

Sources (English)- MSNBC, New York Times, The latin Americanist, Fox News

Sources (Spanish)- Milenio, El Universal