Mexico advances abortion rights as two women take presidential race spotlight
Claudia Sheinbaum, a former mayor of Mexico City who comes from a Jewish family, was elected as the candidate for the ruling Morena party
Mexico's Supreme Court decriminalized abortion across the conservative country on Wednesday, following a similar ruling two years ago. It comes on the same day as the ruling political party selected a woman to be its candidate in the presidential elections.
With the nomination of Claudia Sheinbaum to be candidate for the current ruling party in Mexico — President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's Morena party, the stage is set for two women to compete for the presidency for the first time.
Sheinbaum is a scientist and a former mayor of Mexico City who comes from a Jewish family. She would go head-to-head with Xochitl Galvez, a businesswoman and senator with Indigenous roots selected to represent the opposition, the Broad Front for Mexico.
The Mexican Supreme Court had already ruled that abortion was not a crime, which de facto authorized the procedure throughout the country. “The legal system that penalizes abortion in the Federal Penal Code is unconstitutional, since it violates the human rights of women and people with the capacity to gestate,” the court said on social media
The court's new decision paves the way for women across the country to access the procedure without fear of prosecution.
Across Latin America, elective abortion is legal in Argentina, Colombia, Cuba and Uruguay. Other nations allow it in certain circumstances, such as rape or health risks, and there are full bans in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.