The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) of Mexico has removed this wednesday the crime of abortion of the Federal Criminal Code by granting protection to the Group of Information on Chosen Reproduction (GIRE).

The First Chamber of the SCJN declared it unconstitutional to penalize abortion in the Federal Penal Code for violating the human rights of women and people with the capacity to gestate. the supreme court declared unconstitutional in September 2021 the absolute ban on abortion in the penal codes of the states, but since then few entities have modified their laws to abide by the criteria of the SCJN.

In this way, the administrative authorities, such as the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) and Pemex, must abide by the ruling at the federal level. “With this decision of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, federal health institutions throughout the country will have to provide abortion services to women and people with the capacity to gestate upon request“, the organization Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE) has indicated in a statement.

Specifically, TURN had requested to declare articles 330, 331, 332, 333 and 334 of the Penal Code unconstitutional, which impose prison sentences on pregnant people for terminating their pregnancy, as well as on medical personnel for performing the procedure. The sentence determines that the previously mentioned articles will no longer have effect while the decision will be applied retroactively for the benefit of the people prosecuted or sentenced for this crime, according to the newspaper ‘Milenio’.

The error occurs after the court will declare unconstitutional in 2021 the criminalization of abortion in Coahuila, while a second decision removed a section of the Sinaloa Constitution that protected life from the moment of conception. Although the ruling set a preceding To replicate the decision in other states, it was up to the federal entities to change the laws. Months later, the wave of decriminalization reached Veracruz, Hidalgo, Mexico City, Baja California, and Oaxaca.