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 Editorials | At Issue | March 2006 
Mexico's Abortion Law
 Betsy Illingworth - plannedparenthood.org
| | In a country where ninety percent of the population is considered Catholic, the debate over abortion has intensified as of recent. Since the Constitution of 1917, abortion has been illegal in Mexico, except in certain cases. According to the Mexican Constitution, the only exceptions are in the case of rape, to protect the health of the mother, or when it can be determined that the fetus has some physical or mental defect. |
The governor of South Dakota recently signed a law criminalizing abortion in the state, and anti-choice forces in several other state legislatures are promoting similar bills.
To see how these laws could affect women in these states, we don't need to look any farther than our neighbor to the south, Mexico.
Abortion in Mexico is legal only in cases of rape or to save a woman's life.
However, many pregnant rape survivors in Mexico report that it is extremely difficult to actually obtain a legal abortion, due to administrative obstacles, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Every four minutes, a woman or girl is raped in Mexico. Hundreds of thousands of these women and girls get pregnant after being raped.
Under Mexican law, these women should be allowed access to safe, legal abortion services. However, several obstacles stand in their way.
One issue is Mexico's laws regarding sexual violence. Many Mexican states do not criminalize intimate partner violence, and others criminalize only "repeated" family violence. Mexican law also considers incest to be "consensual" sex.
As a result of this legal framework, courts can disregard rape charges if a woman is raped by her husband, or a girl is raped by her father, brother, or other relative. And since such rapes are not a legal justification for abortion, these women and girls have no legal right to terminate their pregnancies.
Pregnant rape survivors who attempt to access legal abortions are often treated with skepticism and disdain when reporting the rape, according to HRW. Often they are also subject to insurmountable bureaucracies that force them to retell the ordeal to several government agencies before they are given legal permission to have an abortion. On top of that, several government officials will actively discourage survivors to terminate their pregnancies, threaten them with prosecution for attempting to obtain an abortion, and tell them — untruthfully — that abortion is an extreme medical risk.
One young Mexican woman recently had a bittersweet victory on this front.
At age 13, Paulina Ramirez was raped in her home by a heroin addict. With the help of her mother, she petitioned the government for an abortion but was pressured by government officials not to terminate the pregnancy. This pressure escalated to government abuse — she was harassed by anti-choice activists, and the state attorney general took her to see a priest, who told her abortion was a sin.
She was ultimately unable to access an abortion, and gave birth to a son. Since his birth, she had petitioned local courts for redress, with little success.
Then, last week, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ruled in her favor, and as a result the Mexican government awarded her $40,000 for legal and medical fees as well as reparations. She will also receive a stipend for her son's education through high school. The Mexican government is now pressuring state and local governments to ensure women's legal right to abortion.
This is an important victory, though it came years too late for Ramirez. It is hoped it will set a precedent for further abortion law reform in Mexico.
As HRW points out, the situation in Mexico makes clear the inherent problem with allowing legal abortions under certain circumstances only. The power to decide whether to continue a pregnancy needs to rest with women alone — not the government.
As a result of the abortion laws in Mexico, many women and girls attempt to circumvent the government altogether and seek unsafe, illegal abortions, which often result in injury or death.
Women must not risk their lives because they are denied access to safe, legal abortions. This is true for women in Mexico, women in South Dakota, women everywhere.
Betsy Illingworth is project manager for Planned Parenthood Global Partners. |
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