Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion nationwide

[essentialsaltes]

Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion nationwide

MEXICO CITY —
Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion nationwide Wednesday, two years after ruling that abortion was not a crime in one northern state.

 

[The Hour IS AT HAND]

Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion nationwide

MEXICO CITY —
Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion nationwide Wednesday, two years after ruling that abortion was not a crime in one northern state.

Great, more Moloch worship, thats just what we need...

Unrelated?

Religion affiliations in Mexico 2020 | Statista

Roman Catholic was the most common religion affiliation in Mexico in 2020.

www.statista.com

 

[essentialsaltes]

Wednesday’s unanimous decision will require Mexico’s federal hospitals and clinics to offer abortion. They include thousands of facilities belonging to Mexico’s Social Security Institute, or IMSS, which runs the largest public health network in Latin America. [~70% of the country is expected to have abortion access through this federal system.]

Mexico is the world’s second-largest Catholic country, and for years, the public was strongly against abortion. But attitudes have been changing — here and in other parts of Latin America.

Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia have decriminalized the procedure, while Chile has eased restrictions. Yet some countries have maintained strict bans, including El Salvador and Honduras.

 

[Pommer]

Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion nationwide

MEXICO CITY —
Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion nationwide Wednesday, two years after ruling that abortion was not a crime in one northern state.

Finally, the Mexicans will have to build “The Wall” to keep Americans OUT!

 

[JustOneWay]

I wonder if Alabama will now forbid it's citizens from travelling to Mexico from an Alabama airport?

 

[wing2000]

Finally, the Mexicans will have to build “The Wall” to keep Americans OUT!

I would not be surprised to see abortion clinics opening in Mexican towns bordering Texas.

 

[Pommer]

I would not be surprised to see abortion clinics opening in Mexican towns bordering Texas.

Finally a “legit” business that the cartels can ruin America with!

(Yes, “my-side” I’m so sorry, but if lefty-me thought of this…this will be “TheSpin®️” in November, just so you know)

 

[JSRG]

While I have very little knowledge of Mexican constitutional law, it strikes me as odd that, after such laws were on the books for so long, the Mexican Supreme Court is to suddenly declare "nope! These were unconstitutional all along!" While there have been cases where I believe longstanding laws were unconstitutional and it just took the Supreme Court a while to get the issue right, I am generally nevertheless generally suspicious of "well, everyone thought these were constitutional for all this time, but we were all wrong!" decisions. Now, perhaps there was a more recent amendment passed, and their Court relied on that... is that the case? Or did the Mexican Supreme Court, just like the United States Supreme Court did in Roe v. Wade, simply make up a right out of nowhere in order to engage in blatant judicial activism? Anyone know what the actual rationale for this decision was?

 

[Pommer]

While I have very little knowledge of Mexican constitutional law, it strikes me as odd that, after such laws were on the books for so long, the Mexican Supreme Court is to suddenly declare "nope! These were unconstitutional all along!" While there have been cases where I believe longstanding laws were unconstitutional and it just took the Supreme Court a while to get the issue right, I am generally nevertheless generally suspicious of "well, everyone thought these were constitutional for all this time, but we were all wrong!" decisions. Now, perhaps there was a more recent amendment passed, and their Court relied on that... is that the case? Or did the Mexican Supreme Court, just like the United States Supreme Court did in Roe v. Wade, simply make up a right out of nowhere in order to engage in blatant judicial activism? Anyone know what the actual rationale for this decision was?

Maybe their justices looked and saw what Ireland done did, in 2018, voting to legalize abortion and their country is much better for having done so.
Maybe old laws need to be rethunk every now and again?
It’s not like they can’t just ban it again when needs be.

 

[JSRG]

Maybe their justices looked and saw what Ireland done did, in 2018, voting to legalize abortion and their country is much better for having done so.
Maybe old laws need to be rethunk every now and again?
It’s not like they can’t just ban it again when needs be.

If that was their explicit rationale--I don't know if it was--then it's an awful one. Even if we accept that a country is better off for legalizing abortion, what is better for a country is a call for the legislature to make, not a court.

 

[Pommer]

If that was their explicit rationale--I don't know if it was--then it's an awful one. Even if we accept that a country is better off for legalizing abortion, what is better for a country is a call for the legislature to make, not a court.

It was just decriminalized, not legalized.
(I don’t know what their court’s rationale was.)

 

[JSRG]

Okay, so I did find an article that linked to the opinion, or at least the announcement of the opinion, which is here, and gives a rationale (of sorts) of their decision:

Listado de Comunicados

www.internet2.scjn.gob.mx

Compared to United States Supreme Court opinions, this is extremely short. I don't know if maybe there's a more in-depth opinion someplace (US Supreme Court opinions normally do open up with a "shortened" version of the opinion at the start, perhaps this is the equivalent of that?). I do remember being told by someone that Mexican Supreme Court decisions are done a bit differently than US ones, so perhaps it really is just the link.

I read it through an automated translation, and the announcement reads less like a court opinion and more like the reasoning a legislature would offer, and therefore does make me wonder how much of the reasoning behind this is actually based on the constitution and how much is simply the court deciding "criminal punishments for abortion are bad for society, so we should get rid of it" (even Roe v. Wade at least tried to put a constitutional spin on its claims).

Still, I hesitate to render too much of a judgment on a court decision when I'm thoroughly unfamiliar with Mexican law or precedent. But it at least reads to me like this was less a judicial decision and more a legislative one--and if so, that's a problem.

 

[Gene2memE]

While I have very little knowledge of Mexican constitutional law, it strikes me as odd that, after such laws were on the books for so long, the Mexican Supreme Court is to suddenly declare "nope! These were unconstitutional all along!"

They didn't though.

There's been a progressive unwinding of Mexican laws declaring abortion illegal over the past ~35 years or so, which have accelerated since the mid 2000s.

At a state level, a few states decriminalized some abortion procedures in the 1990s. This was followed by a wave of laws unwinding laws penalising abortion or expanding access from 2007 onwards. These efforts accelerated from 2019 onwards, with 10 of 28 states enacting legislation allowing for abortions prior to 12 weeks between 2019 and 2022, and another two introducing this following judicial decisions.

At the federal level, there were several Mexican federal laws passed in the mid 2000s that expanded abortion access (from the previous narrow scope). These were backed by a Mexican Supreme Court decision in 2008, that unanimously found these laws were constitutional and then a 2011 rejection by the Court of state level laws that conferred personhood from the moment of conception.

The big change came in 2021, when the Supreme Court ruled (again) that personhood from conception laws at the state level were invalid. This latest decision was largely built on that.

 

[RileyG]

This news breaks my heart.

 

[JSRG]

They didn't though.

There's been a progressive unwinding of Mexican laws declaring abortion illegal over the past ~35 years or so, which have accelerated since the mid 2000s.

At a state level, a few states decriminalized some abortion procedures in the 1990s. This was followed by a wave of laws unwinding laws penalising abortion or expanding access from 2007 onwards. These efforts accelerated from 2019 onwards, with 10 of 28 states enacting legislation allowing for abortions prior to 12 weeks between 2019 and 2022, and another two introducing this following judicial decisions.

At the federal level, there were several Mexican federal laws passed in the mid 2000s that expanded abortion access (from the previous narrow scope). These were backed by a Mexican Supreme Court decision in 2008, that unanimously found these laws were constitutional and then a 2011 rejection by the Court of state level laws that conferred personhood from the moment of conception.

The big change came in 2021, when the Supreme Court ruled (again) that personhood from conception laws at the state level were invalid. This latest decision was largely built on that.

None of this seems to actually go against what I said. What you're referring to is that legislatures opted to expand abortion access or decriminalize abortion, and that the Mexican Supreme Court said that it was constitutional for them to do that. However, just because legislatures can decriminalize abortion does not mean that the Constitution requires them to do so--those are very different things. What you appeal to--areas of Mexican decriminalizing abortion, or a court decision confirming they can do so--is only evidence of the former.

The one exception is the statement that it rejected laws that "conferred personhood from the moment of conception". Not knowing enough about Mexican law or its history to properly opine, I can't say whether that decision makes sense or not. Assuming it does, it seems an awfully big leap to somehow go from that to declaring that nationwide abortion can't be criminalized. Thus it does still does strikes me as odd that, after such laws were on the books for so long, the Mexican Supreme Court is to suddenly declare "nope! These were unconstitutional all along!"

 

[FireDragon76]

Maybe their justices looked and saw what Ireland done did, in 2018, voting to legalize abortion and their country is much better for having done so.
Maybe old laws need to be rethunk every now and again?
It’s not like they can’t just ban it again when needs be.

Women's groups in Mexico have been campaigning against the abortion laws for years.