The Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico decriminalized abortion throughout the country this Wednesday, in a historic decision that recognizes the right to terminate pregnancy in the territory's 32 states.
The decision of the court makes abortion legally accessible in all 32 states of the country, compared to the previous 12 states, and invalidates the articles of the Federal Penal Code that punish women and pregnant people for terminating pregnancies.
"The First Chamber of the Court resolved that it is unconstitutional the legal system that criminalizes abortion in the Federal Penal Code, since violates women's human rights and people with the capacity to conceive," said the government statement.
The ruling from Mexico, a predominantly Catholic country of 130 million inhabitants, highlights the leadership that Latin American nations are assuming in expanding the right to abortion.
It also reflects profound changes in Mexican society and in some of its institutions. Much of Mexico remains culturally conservative, but decades of feminist activism have changed the way many people in the country think about women's rights.
Reproductive rights groups have also fought to get abortion cases to the Supreme Court.
Mexico City was the first Mexican jurisdiction to decriminalize abortion 15 years ago.
In addition to Mexico, countries such as Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay and Guyana have legalized or decriminalized abortion.
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