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 Editorials | Opinions | May 2007 
Choice for Mexico City
 Lourdes Cárdenas - DallasNews.com
Mexico City has become the first entity in Mexico to legalize abortions.
Under a law enacted April 27, a woman can interrupt her pregnancy in the first 12 weeks of gestation, and city-run hospitals and clinics are required to perform the operation.
The move is unprecedented in Mexico – and a major step ahead in women's rights. This is the first time that a state government has referred to abortion as an ethical dilemma and given full recognition of a woman's ability to decide over her pregnancy.
Nationally, abortions are allowed only in cases of rape. The penalty for having or performing an abortion ranges from three to six years in prison. But Mexico City's decision may very well pave the way for other Mexican states – the capital city is a federal district, like Washington, D.C. – to introduce legislation to legalize abortion.
Perhaps the most significant outcome will be the effect on women's health. Unsafe abortions are the third-leading cause of maternal mortality in Mexico City, the fifth in the nation as a whole. Estimates put the number of illegal procedures each year in the hundreds of thousands, killing at least 1,500 women in the process.
Several years ago, when working for a Mexico City newspaper, my reporting on abortion took me to the Women's Hospital, a public health institution where poor and uninsured women look for medical attention.
I talked to women who were recovering from self-induced abortions, women who had drunk herbal remedies or taken drugs recommended by friends. I talked to women who were suffering serious infections from abortions performed in clandestine clinics. A doctor told me about a teenage girl who had hemorrhaged after using a knitting needle to abort her pregnancy.
None of these women were dissuaded by the fact that abortions were illegal, I remember thinking at the time. They were just pushed toward risky procedures in unsafe conditions.
Indeed, the new law in Mexico City won't force women to do anything against their will. It only guarantees that the women who do decide to have abortions can do so with less peril to their health. The same thing happened in the U.S., where the availability of abortion has considerably reduced women's health risk.
I recognize that this is not a simple issue; talking about abortion raises a wide range of opinions and arguments.
In the case of Mexico City, the debate has showed how much the country has changed in the last two decades, becoming a more mature and democratic society.
The arrival of different political forces to the local and federal governments has allowed for the open discussion of issues such as same-sex unions – also recently legalized in Mexico City – and euthanasia, which is soon to become a hot topic after a planned bill is introduced in the local legislative assembly.
The debate over all of these issues has neither been quiet nor easy. In the case of abortion, Mexican society is deeply divided between pro-choice and pro-life.
But in a country where the vast majority of the population is Catholic, Mexico City's decision may give voice to a segment of the population that is usually drowned out. If that is the case – something difficult to measure – the new law will be a victory for an under-represented minority.
Can this be considered democratic? Yes, I believe it can.
Although the new law has already been enacted, opponents still have the resources a democracy affords, and they have already vowed to appeal the law before the Supreme Court. Any Supreme Court decision would promise to set a precedent for other states, just as proponents hope decriminalization sets an example.
Lourdes Cárdenas is city editor for Al Día. Her e-mail address is lcardenas@aldiatx.com. |
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