| | |  Editorials | Issues | April 2009 
As States Redefine Life, Abortion Activists Fret
 Nacha Cattan - The News
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| | (Cuartoscuro/Isaac Esquivel) | |
Abortion activists say a growing number of states that have granted embryos the same rights as people are limiting women's access to legal abortions. The result, they say, could be a national ban on all such procedures.
On Friday, the state of Nayarit joined other local legislatures that have reformed their constitutions to protect life starting at conception. In the past six months, over half of Mexico's 31 states have either passed such a reform or had it proposed by lawmakers.
The language of some of the reforms do not specifically list exceptions for legal abortions in cases of rape or if the woman's life is in danger, putting these rights - currently granted in every state - at risk, abortion rights groups say.
In addition, some reforms state that life begins at fertilization, which could be interpreted to outlaw birth control methods such as intrauterine devices and emergency contraceptives, said María Luisa Sánchez Fuentes, director of Gire, a reproductive rights organization.
The activists worry that the swift success on the state level - close to 10 have already passed the law - could be used to pressure federal lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment affirming life begins at conception. Such a proposal has already been introduced in Congress.
"It's a clear message from the states to the federal government that they must push through the reform" Sánchez Fuentes said.
In addition, some news reports say local religious leaders have lobbied for such reforms in their states.
APPLAUDING THE EFFORT
Anti-abortion advocates say that they moved their battle to the states after the Supreme Court ruled in August that each local government could decide whether to legalize the procedure. Lawmakers who passed the reforms say they are only trying to prevent their states from offering abortions on demand, as is done in Mexico City. They do not intend to prevent abortions in cases of rape or fetal deformity - another exception in some states, they say.
Catholic Church officials applauded the efforts and said that if local prelates have campaigned for the reforms that is within their rights.
"In a mature country, legislators take into account distinct views," said Father José de Jesús Aguilar, a media representative of Mexico City's Archdiocese.
"Unfortunately in Mexico people think that a secular country means you cannot take religious groups into account."
But Aguilar said that lawmakers should be careful not to use confusing language, saying that the church specifically states that life begins at conception.
The human rights prosecutor in Baja California, Francisco Javier Sánchez, used the confusion argument when he brought a case before the Supreme Court in January claiming his state's reform put a woman's access to legal abortion at risk.
Some state reforms re-emphasized which abortions remained legal, while others used the reform to increase punishments for women caught having the procedure.
And while the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, has led the struggle on reforms, the approval in many states by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has fed abortion activists' fears of a national amendment, where the two main parties can easily rally two thirds of the vote needed to reform the Constitution.
Others said a federal amendment was not likely.
"Federal PRI members are far more secular and independent from religious pressures," said Alejandro Madrazo, a constitutional lawyer. |
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