*Updated May 19, 2014*
Guadalajara -
The Supreme Judicial Court of the Nation (SJCN) today struck down a state law which declared that life begins at conception, further moving the country towards elimination of most restrictions on access to abortion.
By an eight to three vote, the full court ruled unconstitutional and nullified legislation in Querétaro state, which "recognized, protected and guaranteed the right to life of every person from the moment of conception." Querétaro lawmakers had decided that "the products of fertilization form a human being, with corresponding legal rights until death." The SCJN rejected that determination as an arbitrary and insupportable legislative finding, which would prohibit abortion for virtually any reason.
The court often sits in panels of five, but the entire chamber voted in this case due to the seriousness of the issue and its potential applicability to the entire nation.
Just 20 months ago the high court failed to strike down laws in 16 states which criminalize abortion. In September 2011 seven judicial ministers of the 11 member SCJN found that anti-abortion laws in Baja California and San Luis Potosí were unconstitutional, infringing upon a women’s right to make decisions concerning her own body. Four other ministers found the state laws valid. But since eight votes are required to nullify state legislation, the anti-abortion measures narrowly survived the attack. Mexico's Supreme Judicial Court fails to strike down state anti-abortion laws. Now the issue has been decided anew, and this time with a solid majority, some of whom are more recent tribunal appointees.
The plaintiff in the case decided today was the municipality of Arroyo Seco, a county of about 15,000 in east central Mexico. Arroyo Seco sued the state, contending that its "moment of conception" law violated Arroyo's independent legal obligation to give proper medical care and counseling to pregnant women, including advice on the morning-after pill in sexual assault cases. The latter is a guaranteed right under Mexican federal law, although one which is widely disregarded or disobeyed according to some family planning agencies and women's advocates.
Arroyo Seco also argued that the Querétaro law, which was embedded in recent amendments to the state's constitution, interfered with and arguably criminalized innocuous acts such as the teaching of contraceptive methods and the distribution of condoms, both of which are legal and commonplace in Mexico.
Since the Supreme Court's 2011 ruling, criminal prosecutions for abortion have increased in many Mexican states. The SCJN ministers will next debate and decide whether their ruling is local only, affecting just the Querétaro statute, or is binding precedent for the entire nation. The latter course would topple dozens of state and local laws which forbid abortion in at least 16 of 32 jurisdictions.
May 19, 2014 - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico City reported yesterday that since the Federal District legalized abortion in 2007, about 120,000 have been carried out in the capital city alone. Abortion is permitted up to 12 weeks. In a harsh editorial in Desde La Fe, the archdiocesan newsletter, the Church said, "more children have been killed from abortion in the last seven years than have persons in the war against drug trafficking and organized crime."
2013
May 7 - Injusticias en nombre de la moral y la religión
Apr. 9 - Criminal charges for abortion soar in Mexico; poor indigenous women commonly defendants
Mar. 6 - Mexican Supreme Court: anti-gay comments are hate speech, not free speech, and are not legally protected
Mexico City, May 2. It may have been a bit off topic, but president Obama fielded a reporter's question about extending the availability of the morning-after pill to teenage girls in the U.S.
© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment