Mexican Court: Abortion is International Human Right

The Mexican Supreme Court struck down the country’s federal abortions restrictions on the basis that “women and gestating persons” have an international right to abortion-on-demand.

Citing the non-binding recommendations of international human rights bodies, the court ruled that any criminal restriction on abortion was a violation of the right to health, gender equality, and personal autonomy. The court further ruled that the denial of abortion services and any barrier that restrict or limit access to abortion are forms of “gender-based violence.”

“Even though these very personal rights are not expressly mentioned anywhere in the Mexican Constitution,” the Court concluded that “they are implicit in the Constitution and the international treaties to which Mexico is a party.”

“The right to choose is the most intimate, personal, and one of the most transcendental choices” that a woman or gestating person may face, the court said. This was a matter of preserving their dignity, reproductive justice, and self-determination, it emphasized.

“It is not the role of the government to know or evaluate the reasons to continue or interrupt a pregnancy,” the Supreme Court ruled, citing international human rights bodies. The court explained that abortion should not only be available in cases where a woman’s health is a risk but anytime that “the continuation of a pregnancy is incompatible with her project of life.”

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