Mexico City Legalizes Abortion in 1st 12 Weeks of Pregnancy

By David Ovalle

Mexico City’s liberal legislative assembly passed a controversial law Tuesday night legalizing abortion during a woman’s first 12 weeks of pregnancy, placing the Mexican capital among Cuba and Guyana as the only Latin American and Caribbean locations with unrestricted access to the procedure.

The vote, after a day of fiery debate, was praised by supporters of abortion rights and denounced by their opponents.

The vote will dramatically alter the landscape of abortion in Mexico, where most of the 107 million population claims to be Catholic. Mexico City has 8 million people, but its surrounding region contains 21 million more, and opponents warned that Mexicans from throughout the country could avail themselves of Mexico City’s new legislation.

“It’s a huge victory,” said Dr. Raffaela Schiavon, the executive director of the women’s health advocacy group Ipas Mexico. “It could start a chain of similar initiatives in other Mexican states and be an example for other countries.”

The passage also signifies a victory for the country’s liberal Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), which last year lost a narrow, bitterly contested presidential election to the conservative National Action Party (PAN).

The debate over the bill has roiled Mexico for weeks, pitting conservative leaders and the country’s Catholic Church, with help from the Vatican, against abortion-rights advocates.

During the seven-hour debate, PAN assembly lawmakers had tried to delay the bill. It passed 46-19, with one lawmaker abstaining.

PAN leaders argued that the 12-week cut-off for abortions was “arbitrary” and ill-defined.

Supporters of the bill say it will protect the lives of thousands of women who already undergo risky illegal abortion procedures.

“It’s going to make an enormous difference in the lives of Mexican women,” said Lilian Sepulveda, the Latin American legal adviser for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights. “So instead of back alleys, women will be able to go to the doctor’s office to get the health services they need.”

But the bill had brought fierce opposition from the church, which publicly blasted the PRD.

In recent weeks, church leaders collected signatures and called for a nationwide referendum. They organized protests and rallies and were buoyed last week by a letter from Pope Benedict XVI, who called the proposed law a “grave threat” to unborn children.

Their fierce opposition came despite a ban on political activity by religious groups.

President Felipe Calderon, of the PAN, has opposed the bill, and the party has said it will ask the Mexican Supreme Court to review the law.

(c) 2007 Buffalo News. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.