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By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, Latin America Correspondent

GUADALAJARA, MEXICO June 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The governor of the Mexican state of Jalisco has filed suit in Mexico's Supreme Court to prevent the implementation of Norm 046, a rule issued by the federal Secretariat of Health requiring public hospitals to perform abortions in cases of rape.

Governor Emilio Gonzalez Marquez is challenging the constitutionality of the new regulation, which not only requires surgical abortions to be performed, but also mandates the distribution of the “morning after pill,” which can also cause abortions by preventing the implantation of the zygote in the uterus of the mother.

The regulationhas been widely protested in Mexico, and numerous doctors, medical personnel, and entire hospitals have sought legal protection from the requirement to provide the deadly procedure. 

The regulation was promulgated under pressure from international pro-abortion organizations in March. Although it initially merely allowed doctors to perform abortions in rape cases, the regulation was changed to require them after much-publicized protests from the pro-abortion group Amnesty International.

Previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

Hundreds of Mexican Health Care Workers and Hospitals Seek Exemption from Requirement to Provide Abortions

Mexico Succumbs to International Pressure to Provide Abortions in Public Hospitals

Amnesty International Demands that Mexico Force Doctors to Do Abortions