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Legislators Seek Abortion-on-Demand for Every State in Mexico

Liberals seek to legalize abortion throughout country; conservatives propose stronger pro-life legislation

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

MEXICO CITY, October 6, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In the wake of a Supreme Court ruling affirming the constitutionality of Mexico City's abortion law, which allows a woman to kill her unborn baby for any reason during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, liberal lawmakers are seeking to extend abortion-on-demand to every state in Mexico.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) recently announced that it will be introducing legislation to legalize abortion in 28 different legislatures, and urged federal lawmakers to legalize the practice at the national level, something they have thus far refused to consider.

Parroting the rhetoric of the international pro-abortion movement, Nuevo Leon state party president Juan Gamboa said that the measure isn't "a promotion of abortion, it's a promotion of the right of women to decide."

"We believe that women throughout the country need this support, and that there shouldn't be first and second class citizens," said Gamboa.  "We believe that throughout the country it is necessary for women to have the right to make decisions regarding their lives and their bodies."

The majority National Action Party (PAN) in Nuevo Leon immediately voted down the measure.

National Action state representative Javier Ponce noted that the rejection "wouldn't be news for anyone."

"We are against initiatives to depenalize abortion, I insist, because we defend life and because we feel that that is not the way to address problems," he added.

In Colima, the PSD introduced the legislation along with a bill to legalize the possession of marijuana. State representative Jorge Velasco Rocha claimed that it would save lives.

Citing the number of women who had had abortions legally in the nation's capital since legalization, Velasco claimed, "What the 12 thousand that were served in the Federal District means is that it is probable that two thousand would have died" had legal abortion not been available.

However, Mexico City's own health department gives statistics that differ dramatically from Velasco's estimates of deaths due to illegal abortions.  In the year before legalization, the health department recorded that only eight women died from miscarriages and induced abortions.  The city does not distinguish between miscarriage and illegal abortions in its official statistics, so it is unknown how many of the eight deaths were caused by illegal induced abortions.

While the Social Democratic Party is pushing the legalization of abortion, the National Action Party is continuing its own initiative in the state of Guanajuato to strengthen the state's pro-life stance by explicitly guaranteeing the right to life in its constitution.

The amendment reads: "With regard to this Constitution and the laws that emanate from it, a person is any human being from conception until natural death, and the State will guarantee to him the complete enjoyment and exercise of all of his rights" (see previous LifeSiteNews coverage at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08072311.html).

The governor of the state, Juan Manuel Oliva Ramírez, has recently announced his support for the amendment, which he claimed will not make abortion illegal in rape and incest cases.  However, it is believed that it will exempt the state government from providing or funding abortions in such cases.

Veronica Cruz Sanchez of the pro-abortion organization "Freedom in Sexual Education," expressed her outrage at the advance of the legislation, and said that she intended to alert international organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the World Association of Women, and numerous other international pro-abortion organizations.  Cruz' organization was itself founded with money from Ipas, an international pro-abortion group.

Previous LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Mexican State Legislators Seek to Define Personhood as Being from Conception
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08072311.html

Mexico City Passes "Express Divorce" and "Gender Identity" Legislation
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08091114.html

Protests and Official Mourning Declared following Mexican Pro-Abortion Ruling
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082810.html

Pro-Abortion Case Falls Apart Days Before Mexican Supreme Court Ruling
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082610.html

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