Mexico grapples with abortion; First Lady sides with pro-lifers

Just as the United States Supreme Court did 40 years ago, the Supreme Judicial Court of Mexico is poised to rule later today on the constitutionality of anti-abortion statutes which some states here have enacted. The case mirrors abortion litigation north of the border which led to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1971 decision in Roe vs. Wade, a ruling that held a woman's fundamental right to privacy and the right to make decisions concerning her own body take legal precedence over the rights of her unborn fetus. That decision also confirmed that U.S. states may not override a woman's federal constitutional protections by criminalizing abortion.

The abortion debate in Mexico is tracking along almost identical lines. Some of the 32 Mexican states vigorously criminalize the procedure, and the pending question before the Mexican SJCN (Supreme Court) is whether those laws are valid or must be struck down under the nation's federal constitution. The test cases which serve as the backdrop for a much larger social debate on abortion in this very Roman Catholic country come from the states of Baja California and San Luis Potosí. There are 11 judges on the SJCN, referred to as ministers, and their majority vote will determine the issue.

Yesterday Margarita Zavala, Mexico's First Lady, weighed in on the side of the pro-life advocates. "My belief is that life should be protected from the moment of conception, and we should respect laws which do so." Zavala added, "This is not to suggest that we must not take into account other rights as well," although she did not elaborate. Zavala and her husband, Mexican president Felipe Calderon, are both practicing Catholics.