In Mexico, supreme court rules that criminalising abortion is unconstitutional

Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional to penalise abortion, a major victory for women’s health and reproductive rights that comes amid a “green wave” of abortion decriminalisation in Latin America. The Mexican court’s decision on Tuesday follows moves to decriminalise abortion at the state level, although most of the country still has tough laws in place against women terminating their pregnancy early. “This is a historic step for the rights of women,” said Supreme Court Justice Luis Maria Aguilar. The court unanimously annulled several provisions of a law from Coahuila – a state on the border with the US state of Texas – that had made abortion a criminal act, and its decision will immediately only affect the northern border state. But it established “obligatory criteria for all of the country’s judges”, compelling them to act the same way in similar cases, said Supreme Court President Arturo Zaldivar.
Read the full article here: Al Jazeera