A historic decision has been made in an unexpected country. On Tuesday, September 7, 2021, the Supreme Court of Mexico decriminalized abortions and deemed that prohibiting them is unconstitutional. With Mexico being one of the more populous and religious (Catholic) countries in Latin America (The New York Times), a huge step has been taken in the right direction for Women's rights despite all the push back from conservative politicians and the Catholic church, where their reign over countries is slowly decreasing, for they greatly condemned the ruling.
Pro-choice demonstrators are seen in Mexico City in September 2020. (Rebecca Blackwell/The Associated Press)
Many Mexican feminists have been advocating this issue from all over the country since 2007 when the capital of Mexico, Mexico City, legalized abortions (the New York Times), as well as following other surrounding countries in central and south America, like Argentina who approved a bill to make abortions legal and accessible for women back in late 2020 (CNN). The movement in Argentina used green handkerchiefs which represent the support for sexual and reproductive rights and has become a well recognized symbol throughout Latin America for women's rights (The New York Times). On the other hand, countries like El Salvador, who the Catholic church has wrapped right around their fingers, have incredibly strict abortion laws. There are no exceptions to abortions in El Salvador, including if they have a miscarriage (CBS). In addition, the prosecution time for Salvadorian women can be as high as 35 years. This has only resulted in dangerous black market abortions and further inequality for Salvadorian women (CBS).
For a country where homicides of women are quite high, up to 10 women killed everyday in 2020 and more than 2,000 murdered in the first 7 months of 2021 (The New York Times), the social and political oppression that face these Mexican women is intense. Having thousands of women fighting for their rights knowing the backlash, odds, and life-threatening danger is nothing but courageous and admirable.
Throughout the decade, states all over Mexico have been prosecuting women for up to three years and those who knowingly assisted these women who consented to abortions. Unfortunately, this new ruling will not result in any immediate changes (The New York Times) where women can now have abortions and are completely legal in every state. However, wrongfully imprisoned women will now have the ability to sue the state back and demand any charges to be dropped for having abortions (The New York Times).
Women march for abortion rights in Mexico City on Sept. 28. (Anthony Vazquez/AP)
Abortion has been a global hot topic for many years. A war of pro-choice and pro-life; From conception to birth. In the United States, Texas recently passed a new law, that took into effect September 1, 2021, where abortions after 6 weeks are strictly prohibited regardless of rape or incest cases thus making it the most restrictive abortion law in the entire U.S (The New York Times). In many cases, women would be completely unaware of their pregnancy at 6 weeks, so the amount of time to realize your period is late and to schedule an abortion, or even a doctor visit, are reduced to about a week. There are many ongoing arguments going on around the the United States either praising the "heartbeat bill" for protecting the unborn or deeply criticizing the means of controlling a women's body.
Protesters march in Austin, Texas, in response to the state’s new anti-abortion law in May 2021. Sergio Flores/Getty Images
Still, there will be many factors affecting women having the full abortions accessibility as there are many oppositions like because most of the country is a little more conservative, doctors can be morally opposed to the procedures. Nevertheless, Mexico demonstrated that even a developing country has the potential to advocate and fight for the rights of women and although there is still a lot more work to be done, Mexico has also paved the way for other Latin American countries to follow them in this slow progression.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/mexico-supreme-court-abortion-1.6167196
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/10/04/mexico-is-taking-steps-toward-legalizing-abortion-across-latin-america-restrictions-are-widespread/
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22660973/texas-abortion-lyft-att-godaddy-uber-bumble
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/07/americas/mexico-criminalizing-abortion-unconstitutional-intl-latam/index.html
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