The Supreme Court of Mexico declared this month that punishing abortion as a crime was unlawful and unconstitutional, a landmark decision fought for by thousands of women. This decision comes just weeks after Texas passed a law criminalizing abortion after six months, as well as the US Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Texas bill. The 5-4 majority, with Justices Roberts, Sotamayor, Kagan, and Breyer dissenting, comes after former-President, Donald Trump, appointed 3 conservative judges to the bench.
Previously, Mexico had harsh repercussions for those seeking an abortion, especially in the state of Coahuila, where one could serve three years in prison for having an abortion even in cases of rape. There is an eerie similarity between the new Texas Heartbeat Bill and Mexico pre-ruling, both containing stringent rules to control reproductive rights.
The Supreme Court of Mexico’s decision was because of a long set of appeals about the Coahuila abortion law. Judges unanimously voted that the Coahuila law was cruel, allowing justices to proclaim the unconstituionality of punishment for abortion. Arturo Zalvidar, Mexico’s Chief Supreme Court Justice, says that the ruling “is a watershed in the history of the rights of all women, especially the most vulnerable.”
This decision exhibits a new freedom in Latin America. The ruling only immediately affects Coahuila, but four other states or cities have accepted the decision. In Mexico, judicial precedents are followed in a hierarchical order, third after the Constitution and new legislature. To enact a law in each state, a legal challenge would have to be proposed, but Zalvidar explains that the new ruling establishes “obligatory criteria for all of the country’s judges.” The landmark precedent set by the unanimous decision would force most states to follow the federal court’s lead.
The Mexican movement was largely inspired by Argentinian feminist movements from the previous years, where women took to the streets in green attire, a symbol of abortion rights actvistis across the region. On December 20, 2020, Argentina legalized abortion through a woman’s first trimester of pregnancy, and set up systems to insure the procedure. This momentum directly came from the #NiUnMenos movement in Argentina that fought primarily against femicide, but soon grew into a more inclusive organization that pushed feminist reforms in the country’s legislature.
Mexico is following the momentum of pro-choice legislation that has exploded around Latin America. Because of its large number of Catholic countries, the battle for reproductive rights has been an uphill battle, but following Uruguay in 2012 and Argentina in 2020, Mexico has followed suit with its ruling.
In contrast, Texas, which borders Coahuila, passed Texas Senate Bill 8. The law bans all abortions if the fetus is past six weeks, a deadline where many women have not yet realized they are pregnant.
The bill states, “A physician may not knowingly perform or induce an abortion on a pregnant woman if the physician detected a fetal heartbeat for the unborn child,” colloquially giving the law the name, ‘The Heartbeat Bill.’ The law goes on to define heartbeat as “cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac,” which includes electrical signals that can be found within a fetus even before the 6-week mark.
Senate Bill 8 does not make any exceptions for cases of rape or incest, only allowing exceptions for life-threatening medical emergencies.
The Supreme Court originally decided against hearing a case for an injunction against the law, but has recently decide to expedite the case’s consideration due to mounting political pressure.
Women are expected to keep a child for nine months of their life, with no exceptions for their socioeconomic status or the child’s quality of life. On top of that, women do not even have a choice in the matter, taking away their own control over their body.
Many pro-life representatives talk about a fetus’s innocence and their potential for life as an argument against abortion. However, this assumes that criminalizing abortion decreases abortions instead of simply making them more dangerous.
Additionally, other structural issues, like lack of sex education, can increase the number of unwanted pregnancies, thus driving more people to seek abortions. In a variety of countries and states, comprehensive sex education in school has resulted in thousands of prevented pregnancies, therefore lowering abortion rates state-wide. The first step from pro-life activists should be reducing pregnancies that cause women to get abortions in the first place. Texas, however, mandates abstinence-first sex education in middle school, and skimps on teaching students about contraception, LGBTQ+ sex education, or consent.
The Heartbeat Bill is a step backward for reproductive rights. We should follow Mexico’s example to protect women and their bodily autonomy.
