Mexican Supreme Court Upholds Legalized Abortion in Mexico City District

by Staff
September 10, 2008

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MEDIA ADVISORY, (christiansunite.com) -- Dismissing a suit by opponents - including the attorney general of Mexico and the president of the National Human Rights Commission - Mexico's Supreme Court upheld a 2007 abortion law for the Federal District that includes Mexico City.

Under the law (passed by the Federal District's Legislative Assembly), the city's health services is required to provide free abortions through the 12th week of gestation. To date, 12,000 abortions have been performed under the law, about one-fifth of them on non-residents.

Eight of 11 justices upheld the law, despite a provision in Mexico's Constitution guaranteeing a right to life from fertilization onward. The justices also ignored opinion surveys which showed 65% of Mexicans oppose the legalization of abortion.

Larry Jacobs, Managing Director of the World Congress of Families, noted the tragedy and the irony of the decision. "In Roe v. Wade, in 1973, the United States Supreme Court read a right to abortion into the our Constitution. If that wasn't bad enough, the Mexican Supreme Court condoned the Federal District's legalization of abortion notwithstanding a specific provision in that nation's constitution calling on government to protect life from the moment of conception."

Jacobs added: "You might say the Mexican Supreme Court decision is Roe v. Wade on steroids."

Paz Fernandez attended World Congress of Families II (1999) and was one of the founders of Red Familia (The Family Network) - a WCF Partner. Writing in "Reforma," Fernandez noted another irony - the same day the Court endorsed abortion, a ban on smoking in public went into effect. Fernandez, "While a woman is waiting her turn in the queue for an abortion, after filling out a form with less requirements than for a parachute jump, of course, she mustn't smoke."

The 2007 Warsaw Declaration, adopted by World Congress of Families IV, calls on governments to demonstrate "respect for the life of every human being, from conception to natural death."

World Congress of Families V will be held in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, August 10-12, 2009. For more information on World Congress of Families, go to www.worldcongress.org. To schedule an interview with Larry Jacobs, contact Don Feder at 508- 405-1337 or dfeder@rcn.com.