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Mexico City Set to Vote to Allow Abortion Despite Pro-Life Constitution

Same Assembly voted in 2006 to legalize gay civil unions; also working towards legalized euthanasia

By Meg Jalsevac

MEXICO CITY, March 15, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Despite a strong Roman Catholic national heritage, assembly members in Mexico City are pushing to legalize abortion for city residents throughout the first trimester of pregnancy according to a report in Reuters News. 

Mexico City already permits abortion in cases of rape and when the health of the mother is in danger.  The current national law only allows for abortions in cases of rape.

President Felipe Calderon of the leading National Action Party is strongly pro-life and was out-spoken in his pro-life convictions during his 2006 campaign.  In an interview with the Knight Ridder news service last year Calderon confirmed his views saying, "On the subject of abortion, I am pro-life, and I also see that it is a matter clearly regulated by law, and most of all in judicial terms well settled."  Calderon narrowly won against his pro-abortion opponent despite early predictions that Calderon had no chance. 

Assembly leader Victor Hugo Cirigo of the Party of the Democratic Revolution commented on the pending City Hall vote saying, “"No church, no religion can impose its vision of the world in this city.”   The liberal Party of the Democrats runs the Mexico City Hall and holds a 34 seat majority in the 66 seat legislative body.  They claim that they have the majority support to pass the abortion bill into city law.

The Roman Catholic leaders of the country have vowed to protest the vote and have threatened a constitutional challenge and political protest movement should the vote go through.  Acting as spokesman for Mexico’s Catholic Archdiocese, Armando Martinez said, "If the assembly can't be the city's conscience, we will have to form our own party to represent us."

The Mexico City Assembly defied the religious opposition at the end of 2006 when they voted to legalize civil unions.  According to Reuters, they also expect similar protest when they begin working towards legalized euthanasia in the near future.

Mexico has come under international pressure in recent months to change its pro-life laws.  In March, 2006, the Human Rights Watch posted a document in which they demanded that Mexico “support the right to immediate unhindered access to safe, humane, respectful, and free abortion services in those cases where abortion currently is not criminalized and in accordance with human rights standards.”

Read Previous LifeSiteNews.com Coverage:

Human Rights Watch Urges Abortion Access in Mexico Under Concern for “Rape Victims”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06032706.html

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