The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) of Mexico declared this Wednesday unconstitutional the articles of the federal criminal code that prohibit abortion. The ruling comes in an appeal presented by the Information Group on Chosen Reproduction (GIRE).
“The SCJN decriminalizes abortion at the federal level! Thanks to a protection won by GIRE, all women and people with the capacity to become pregnant will be able to access abortion services at any federal health institution,” the organization announced through the social network X (formerly Twitter). Likewise, the SCJN indicated said resolution on the same social network.
The lack of decriminalization of abortion in the federal Penal Code was the cause that even in the states of the country where it had already been decriminalized by local congresses or via amparo, the federal health-providing institutions denied women access to abortion through these services, reports Animal Político.
The Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in September 2021 the absolute prohibition of abortion in the criminal codes of the states, but since then few territorial entities have modified their laws to comply with the criteria of the SCJN, so the crime is still classified at the national level. local.
The organization detailed in a statement that any federal health institution, such as the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) or the Institute of Security and Social Services of State Workers (ISSSTE), must provide the service to all pregnant people who request it. Furthermore, health personnel who provide this type of assistance cannot be criminalized, the organization added.
“Having been approved unanimously, this ruling becomes mandatory for all local and federal judges, who will have to implement what the court said,” reads the GIRE statement. The feminist organization said it trusts the entities to guarantee reproductive autonomy.
The federal Congress must modify the Penal Code based on the SCJN resolution of this day. The project voted on this Wednesday was 267/2023 by Minister Margarita Ríos-Farjat, who analyzed articles 330, 331, 332, 333 and 334 of the Federal Penal Code, which mention the sanctions for the crime of abortion at the federal level.
Until now, 10 of the country’s 32 states allowed women to terminate pregnancies with a limit of 12 weeks of gestation in most legislation, which they progressively modified. The first law to decriminalize abortion in Mexico was approved in the Mexican capital, the then Federal District, in 2007.
