Delia Martinez, Mexico 2021
Recent Mexican Supreme Court rulings open opportunity to broaden access to safe and legal abortion, while just across the border, a new abortion ban takes effect in Texas.
On September 7, 2021, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that criminal penalties for abortion are unconstitutional because they violate human dignity, autonomy, equality, reproductive health, and freedom, among other rights.
By striking down the criminalization of women established by the state of Coahuila’s abortion law, which punished abortion with up to three years of jail time, the Supreme Court has set a historic precedent for abortion decriminalization across the country.
Two days later, the Supreme Court declared the protection of “life from the moment of conception” established by the state of Sinaloa to be unconstitutional. Though states in Mexico have their own abortion laws, Supreme Court rulings apply nationally, and states must now harmonize their laws to the national precedent.
While these decisions have an immediate impact on the decriminalization of women, girls, and people who can become pregnant, its operationalization in the form of public sector service delivery will still take time and regulation. Implementation will require advocacy and access efforts from local groups to hold state government and health providers accountable and to scale up support for women, girls, and other pregnant people seeking abortion.
Fòs Feminista provides funding and support to more than a dozen groups in Mexico, ranging from leading abortion activists and national providers of sexual and reproductive health care, to community-based collectives and local safe abortion accompaniment networks. The diversity of these partnerships means that we are pursuing a variety of strategies, from community education to strategic litigation, ultimately creating a stronger movement to advance abortion access.
“I believe these are groundbreaking decisions for reframing the abortion debate not only in Latin America and the Caribbean, but globally,” said Giselle Carino, Fòs Feminista’s CEO. “This time, the question being discussed is not whether people are “for or against” abortion, but rather if a woman or pregnant person should be imprisoned for having an abortion. Mexico’s Supreme Court answered correctly today: no.”
Weeks after the decision to decriminalize abortion, Mexico’s Supreme Court issued another ruling that further opened opportunities for expanding access to safe and legal abortion. On September 21, the Supreme Court placed limitations on the use of conscientious objection by health staff, clarifying that while it is an individual right, the government must ensure that there are non-objectors in all facilities or at least in the same area.
We are supporting partners to analyze and integrate the legal implications of these rulings into their work to ensure implementation at the state level and expand access to abortion. For example, we are facilitating South-South collaboration among partners, including trainings for telehealth providers and accompaniment networks on the new legal context. Some of our partners are also conducting high-level advocacy work with state congresses to ensure the penal codes are harmonized with the Supreme Court decision.
In a context where Indigenous and rural women and girls who are more likely to be criminalized for abortion, we are also focusing on increasing access for these and others who face systemic exclusion. To this end, we are facilitating a South-South training on how to integrate abortion rights into the educational activities of a partner that focuses on Indigenous rights, including the sexual and reproductive health of young people in rural Oaxaca. We are also supporting a partner that reaches women and girls along the migration routes to the North.
Meanwhile, these victories for abortion rights stand in stark contrast to what is happening just across the border from Mexico, in Texas, which recently imposed a draconian abortion ban that bars abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people know they’re pregnant. Just days before the Mexico Supreme Court rulings, the United States Court refused to strike down the law, and women, girls, and others pregnant people in Texas who are seeking abortion are unprotected while the argument continues in federal courts.
The decisions of Mexico’s Supreme Court demonstrate how strategic litigation can be a powerful tool for advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights. They are already having an impact in the argumentation in similar cases in other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, like Colombia and Ecuador, and they provide inspiration for abortion rights activists in the United States and beyond.
