Mexico’s Quintana Roo state decriminalises abortion | Well being Information

The transfer comes a few yr after Mexico’s Supreme Courtroom dominated that penalising abortion was unconstitutional.

The Mexican state of Quintana Roo has voted to decriminalise abortion, turning into the newest space to ease restrictions on the process as a part of a “inexperienced wave” demanding better reproductive rights throughout Latin America.

Nineteen lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favour with three towards, approving a change within the regulation that will decriminalise abortion for girls as much as 12 weeks pregnant and take away a requirement for rape victims to report their abuser to entry abortion.

“The battle is bearing fruit,” the Quintana Roo Feminist Community stated on Twitter. “We’ll insist that abortion is just not solely authorized, but in addition free and protected.”

GIRE, a reproductive rights group in Mexico, additionally welcomed the choice, saying extra areas of the nation now grant individuals “the appropriate to resolve” on abortion. “The inexperienced tide continues to advance in Latin America,” Deliberate Parenthood tweeted.

Abortions grew to become authorized in Mexico Metropolis 15 years in the past, and final yr the nation’s Supreme Courtroom unanimously dominated that penalising abortion was unconstitutional.

Whereas rights activists have campaigned to take away state sanctions to make sure ladies can freely entry abortions, fewer than a dozen of Mexico’s 32 states have since tailored their legal guidelines.

The early morning vote in Quintana Roo additionally got here amid a wave of abortion rights victories in Latin America, together with in Argentina, which in late 2020 legalised elective abortions till the 14th week of being pregnant.

Ecuador in April 2021 legalised abortion in instances of rape, whereas ladies’s rights advocates in different international locations within the area – the place the Catholic Church, which opposes abortion, continues to wield a robust affect – are pushing to loosen restrictive abortion legal guidelines, as properly.

The push throughout the area comes as the USA has gone in the wrong way after the US Supreme Courtroom in June overturned its landmark Roe v Wade abortion ruling.

The highest courtroom’s transfer, which upended the constitutional proper to abortion throughout the US, prompted an outpouring of anger and protests from rights activists who warned that Black and low-income individuals can be disproportionately harmed.

Since Roe was overturned, a number of Republican-led states have enacted abortion restrictions or outright bans on the process.

Latin American activists have stated they continue to be undeterred by the US abortion rights rollback, with some even pledging to assist ladies within the US entry abortion and different reproductive healthcare providers.

Again in Mexico’s Quintana Roo, Deputy Cinthya Millan, who opposed the abortion reform, stated the session’s early morning schedule meant some voices had not been heard.

The state Congress in March had rejected an identical invoice to decriminalise abortion there.

However Deputy Hugo Alday stated after the vote that Quintana Roo had an obligation to reform its legal guidelines in accordance with social dynamics and the federal pact.