Rising Numbers of Anti-Abortion Laws In Mexico Threaten Women's Rights

Over the past two years, seventeen states in Mexico have passed laws criminalizing abortion. The laws force women who seek or receive abortions to serve jail time or, in the state of Veracruz, to undergo forced medical and psychological treatment.

The bizarre law of the state of Jalisco imposes a minimum four to twelve month sentence on women for having an abortion if they meet four conditions: they have a "bad reputation," sought an abortion as a result of an "illegitimate union," attempted to hide the pregnancy, and had the abortion within the first trimester. If one of these requirements is not fulfilled -- for instance, the woman is married -- the sentence it doubled. If two are not met -- the woman is married and she did not try to hide the pregnancy -- it is tripled. No, it doesn't make sense to me either. (Incidentally, the pro-life governor of Jalisco who enthusiastically supports this law is famous for announcing that AIDS is the result of promiscuity, rather than of not using condoms).

This sickening wave of anti-abortion laws comes on the heels of what should have been a great leap forward for women's rights in Mexico. In 2007, Mexico City's legislature passed a law legalizing abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. Conservative groups, the right-wing Partido de Acción Nacional (PAN), and the Catholic Church took the case to the Supreme Court, which upheld the law in 2008. Unfortunately, soon after a backlash began, with anti-abortion laws popping up all over the country.

These laws have been passed despite polls showing that 62% of Mexicans agree that abortion should be decriminalized, and despite widespread public outcry and protests. The laws indicate not only a grim future for women's rights in Mexico, but also the impending demise of the country's laic state.  The PAN, which introduced most of these laws, has close ties to the Catholic church and, not surprisingly, the anti-abortion laws it has proposed mimic the wording of Catholic popes and Mexican cardinals.

Editorials in the left-wing newspaper La Jornada have pointed out that the anti-abortion laws violate both international treaties and the Mexican constitution, but neither their protests nor those of human rights activists have made the slightest impact on lawmakers.  Even the head of the government office for women's issues (which, until this point, I had no idea existed) has declared that the law violates international treaties Mexico has signed.

The enormous discrepancy between reality and government policy is unsurprising in a state as corrupt as Mexico. The PAN continues to criminalize abortion while the country's abortion rate is 40% higher than that of the United States and rising. Complications related to abortion are currently the fourth leading cause of death among women. These statistics don't even begin to touch on poverty rates in Mexico and the number of children, particularly indigenous children, who work in violation of international child labor laws and live in starving conditions.

So far, Mexico City's decriminalization law has held, although the pressure is mounting as anti-abortion laws are currently being debated in two more Mexican states. Now more than ever, international women's rights organizations need to put pressure on the Mexican government to conform to the treaties it has signed and to stop criminalizing abortion.

Photo: author