A Mexican Supreme Court ruling that canceled federal criminal penalties for abortion continued a regional trend of widening access to the procedure. But it left in place a patchwork of varying state restrictions. Read more.
Why this matters:
The high court ordered Wednesday that abortion be removed from the federal penal code and will require the federal public health service and all federal health institutions to offer abortions on request. That will mean access for millions of Mexicans.
Abortions are not widely prosecuted as a crime, but many doctors refuse to provide them, citing the law. Some 20 Mexican states, however, still criminalize the procedure. Those laws were not affected by the Supreme Court ruling, but abortion rights advocates will likely ask state judges to follow its logic.
Across Latin America, countries have moved toward lifting abortion restrictions in recent years. The trend stands in sharp contrast to increasing restrictions on abortion in parts of the United States. Some American women were already seeking help from Mexican abortion rights activists to obtain pills used to end pregnancies.
