The Supreme Court of Mexico ruled unanimously on Tuesday that laws making abortion a criminal offense are unconstitutional, a move that decriminalized abortion in the country.
Due to the new ruling, abortion, which had been an imprisonable offense in many parts of Mexico, will no longer be subject to criminal penalties. Before the ruling, in the state of Coahuila, where the case originated, having an abortion could have resulted in a three-year prison sentence.
“This is a historic step for the rights of women,” said Supreme Court Justice Luis Maria Aguilar, according to Reuters.
Mexico, which has a large Catholic population, has now become the fifth Latin American nation to decriminalize abortion. Argentina, Cuba, Guyana, and Uruguay preceded Mexico in legalizing the practice.
As Axios reported, of the eleven justices on the court, eight have said that they support decriminalizing abortion. Previously, states could make their own abortion laws, and 28 of the nation’s 32 states chose to protect unborn babies.
Even though abortion was illegal throughout most of the country, the Guttmacher Institue, a pro-abortion organization, estimated that about a million abortions have taken place in Mexico per year.
LifeNews, a pro-life news organization, reported that the battle over abortion in Mexico has been ongoing for several years.
“Abortion activists have been pressuring Mexican leaders for years to repeal pro-life laws that protect unborn babies, sometimes resorting to violent protests, vandalism and threats. Roman Catholic churches especially have been targets of pro-abortion violence in recent years,” LifeNews wrote.
The Mexican court’s decision comes just after the state of Texas implemented one of the strongest bans on abortion in the United States. The Texas law, referred to as the “heartbeat bill,” bans abortion at roughly six weeks, when fetal heart activity can be detected.
In a 5-4 ruling last week, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stay the bill, allowing it to go into effect. Many analysts say they decided not to stop it because of its unique enforcement mechanism, which relies on private parties to file lawsuits.
The law has spawned a host of criticism from the Biden administration, corporations, and celebrities. President Joe Biden has said he will look into a “whole of government effort” to make sure women in Texas will still be able to get abortions.
Pro-life activists, however, have celebrated the law, noting that it is the first such law to survive the courts.