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The Mexican Supreme Court voted 8-3 to uphold Mexico City's abortion law. Chief Justice Guillermo Ortiz Mayagoitia (above) was one of the three that opposed the law.

Jesús García Favila

In what is being hailed as a landmark decision for women's rights, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) upheld a law legalizing abortion in Mexico City through 12 weeks of pregnancy, rejecting a constitutional challenge.

Eight justices voted against the claim, while only three voted in favor.

Dr. Raffaela Schiavon, director of Ipas Mexico, applauded the verdict, "This is a historic decision for women's rights, not just in Mexico City, not even just in Mexico, but for women all over Latin America."

The new law, approved by a wide majority of the Federal District’s Legislative Assembly in April 2007, allows access to abortion upon request during the first three months of pregnancy. Abortion was already legal in the Federal District in cases of rape and fetal anomaly, or to preserve the health and life of the mother. The law establishes the responsibility of public health services to meet any request for legal abortion; it also allows access to safe abortion services for women from other Mexican states, as it does not establish a residency requirement.

Shortly after the law was approved, the Mexican Attorney General and the National Commission on Human Rights challenged that the law was unconstitutional and questioned the competence of the Mexico City Legislative Assembly to alter the Penal Code and the Health Law of the Federal District to legalize abortion

In an unusually transparent and democratic process, the Court held a series of six public hearings to hear petitions from groups in favor and opposed to the law. These hearings were open to the public through the SCJN's website.

The Court issued its decision after brief and public deliberation. The decision shifts the debate about legal abortion from ideological and religious arenas to the field of women’s human rights, thus affirming women’s right to life, health and reproductive freedom.

According to Dr. Schiavon, concerns about the legitimacy of the law were clearly unfounded:

"The best legitimization of the law can be seen in society itself: the women who requested its enforcement from the day after it was issued and who continue demanding care in public hospitals. For the first time in our history, the country is responding to the actual circumstances that motivate women to resort to abortion, reasons that do not need the authorization of a prosecutor, a judge or a physician. Regardless of the law, women make choices conscientiously, responsibly and freely."

The abortion law went into effect just two days after the vote, and its impact was felt almost immediately. According to figures provided by the Federal District, more than 900 legal abortions took place in the first two months. By December 2007, 4,770 women had received abortion care, and by the middle of August 2008, the figure was 12,262. In the four years before the law change, there were only 66 legal procedures.

A survey conducted in April in Mexico City showed strong support for the law: 63 percent of those interviewed agreed with it, compared with only 26 percent opposed (10 percent did not respond). This is a significant change from just a year ago, when only 46 percent supported the law and 43 percent opposed it (again, 10 percent did not respond).  At a meeting on Friday, Deputy Victor Hugo Círigo, of the Federal District’s Legislative Assembly remarked, "A freedom that is recognized and exercised can never again be undermined, except in a context of authoritarian regression."

Schiavon agreed: "More than 80 percent of the women who have received safe and legal abortions since the law was approved have identified themselves as Catholic. They still have exercised their right to choose motherhood, not have motherhood forced upon them. The court's decision respects this right and refuses to call these women criminals."

The Mexican Court's ruling will certainly contribute to the ongoing legal and political debate around abortion throughout Latin America. In 2006, abortion was banned under any circumstance in Nicaragua. By contrast, national and international court rulings expanded access to legal abortion in Colombia and Peru. Abortion is also a factor in constitutional and legislative debates in Bolivia, Brazil and Ecuador

"This decision is of transcendental importance, not only for human rights, but as a stand for the secular state against religious fundamentalism.  It is a lesson for the future, not only for Mexico City, but for the entire country and for the whole region,"Schiavon said.

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