Mexico Stands for Women Against Pro-Lifers

Posts : 618 Join date : 2008-03-09

Quote :: Mexico City's abortion-rights law is upheld

By JANE BUSSEY AND KEVIN G. HALL
Thursday, Aug 28, 2008

Mexico's Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to abortion-rights legislation on Thursday in a decision likely to reverberate across the rest of largely Roman Catholic Latin America.

By a vote of 8-3, the high court ruled that the measure passed last year by the Mexico City legislature, which allowed legal abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, didn't violate Mexico's constitution or any international agreements.

"This made history in Mexico and the rest of the region," said Dr. Raffaela Schiavon, executive director in Mexico for Ipas, an organization in Chapel Hill, N.C., that promotes reproductive rights.

The eight judges made clear in oral presentations earlier this week that a woman's rights were a higher priority than the rights of an unborn child. The judges steered clear of a ruling on when human life begins, arguing it's not a legal concept.

"Girls have a right to not be mothers," argued Justice Genaro Gongora Pimentel, when he outlined his decision on Tuesday. "Criminalizing abortion discriminates against women, and it has never been proven that the product of conception is protected (by the constitution)."

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