The Decision

On 6 September 2023, Mexico’s supreme court decriminalized abortion nationwide. The Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación ruled, “the crime of abortion in the Federal Penal Code is unconstitutional as it contradicts the right to decide for women and persons with the capacity to gestate.” The official document, posted a day later on the court’s X (formerly Twitter) page, determines the choice to have an abortion as a basic human right for the “reproductive autonomy and free development of the person,” health, equality and non-discrimination. Now, across Mexico’s thirty-two states, all federal public health services and institutions are required to offer abortions to anyone who requests one. Furthermore, the ruling implies the acquittal of those formerly prosecuted or sentenced for obtaining an abortion. While healthcare providers can still refuse to perform an abortion based on their own “conscientious objection,” the ruling rejects “institutional objection” in the case that an entire facility refuses to perform the procedure. Additionally, federal regulations within the Penal Code which criminalize abortion must be repealed by Congress before 15 December 2023.

While this decision – according to Chief Justice Arturo Zaldívar – is “a watershed in the history of the rights of women and pregnant people,” it is also a byproduct of progressive decisions and movements already occurring within the country. This ruling comes two years after another landmark case was brought to Mexico’s supreme court regarding the state of Coahuila, during which they declared the state’s absolute criminalization of abortion as unconstitutional. As Mexico is a federal republic, criminal codes and laws are regulated state-by-state. Thus, prior to the ruling, 12 of Mexico’s 32 states already decriminalized abortion – Mexico City being the first to do so back in 2007. Aguascalientes was the twelfth, only doing so one week before the supreme court’s decision. Yet, conversely, this means that 20 states continue to penalize abortion under their state legislature and state-by-state legal work will be an ongoing process despite the federal implications of the supreme court’s decision. Furthermore, like the continued division within its state legislation, the country as a whole remains polarized by debate over one’s legal right to an abortion. 

Despite the progressiveness of its decision, Mexico is a predominantly Catholic country and conservatism within the nation is pushing against the recent decision. The archbishop of Mexico City, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, was quick to condemn the ruling, in a message published in Catholic magazine Desde La Fe on 9 September. In it, he claims, “any attempt that is contrary to life is unlawfully contrary to God…The mistake of the Supreme Court of National Justice in declaring the criminalization of abortion as unconstitutional is facilitating the false exit when a woman finds herself with an unexpected or unwanted pregnancy in pressure situations of different forms.” As the court wrapped up its second day of arguments on 5 September, other anti-abortion protestors prayed and demonstrated outside its justice building. Nevertheless, despite the continued divide within the country, the supreme court’s decision remains an assertive and hallmark stance for Mexico which signals its shift towards progressive abortion policy to the larger regional and international community.

Riding the ‘Green Wave’ 

Mexico’s supreme court decision is only one link in a current chain reaction towards easing abortion restrictions within Latin America. Just last year, Colombia decriminalized abortion within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Similarly, back in 2020, Argentina’s Congress voted in favor of legalizing abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, implementing their decision into law under Ley 27.610 on 24 January 2021. As the region stands today, the bandwagon of Latin American countries that have decriminalized abortion include: Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Guayana, Cuba, and – now – Mexico. This regional trend of pushing towards pro-abortion policy, challenging and loosening restrictions, and even decriminalizing abortion altogether is popularly being called the ‘marea verde’ or ‘green wave’ – inspired by the symbolic green bandanas and handkerchiefs used to unify the pro-abortion movements and demonstrations expanding throughout the region. 

The green wave is a current example of how one country’s decision-making can influence an entire regional web of states and actors. Even more interestingly, the green wave is illuminating a regional shift in who Latin America looks to as its influencers and norm-setters. Professor of anthropology at the University of Brasília Debora Diniz told BBC News, “Traditionally, Latin America doesn’t operate in this way…It was a colonized region, looking much more to the global north. And now we’re looking to each other.” For instance, on 22 September 2023 (about two weeks after Mexico’s decision), the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil opened a vote to decriminalize abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. The timing of this development in Brazil is no coincidence. Therefore, as the region continues to look within itself for  normative inspirations, it is reasonable to assume that the more moderate Latin American countries which permit abortion only under certain circumstances, might be next to ride the green wave in upcoming years. 

However, other Latin American states are reacting to the progressive changes regarding abortion with consternation and even harsher policies than before. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic all prohibit the procedure without any exceptions. In January 2021, knowledge of Argentina’s decision to decriminalize abortion only pushed Honduras’ Congress further into its anti-abortion policy, approving a bill which makes modifying their abortion law virtually impossible. For members of anti-abortion groups in Honduras, like Álvaro Hernández of the Ola Celeste (‘Blue Wave’), the rationale behind such a severe policy change was simple: “When the law passed in Argentina, people in Honduras started talking about whether it [decriminalizing abortion] would spread in the region, and that probably in Honduras, it…could happen too.” Thus, it is evident that while the green wave continues to turn the tide on abortion policies within the Latin American region, its impact is also met with resistance. 

‘Mexico’s Roe v. Wade’ 

Although countries in Latin America are beginning to look to each other more, they still  look to the Global North. In this sense, Mexico’s recent decision challenges its northern neighbor and superpower: the United States. The decision comes a little over a year after the United States Supreme Court overturned the 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade, which had federally upheld the right to an abortion. Thus, states can now ban and criminalize abortion according to their own legislature. To UC Davis School of Law professor Mary Ziegler, Mexico’s decision – being referred to as ‘Mexico’s Roe v. Wade’ – is effectively making the United States “even more of an outlier” in its place within the Global North. This holds true given that the Global North has increasingly moved towards progressive abortion policy, including Ireland’s landslide vote to legalize abortion back in 2018. Ziegler highlights how in the Global North as well as in Asia and South Africa, “you don’t see sweeping, non-exception bans of the kind you’re seeing in large swaths of the United States.” 

Furthermore, Mexico’s supreme court decision is not the only way the country is challenging the northern powerhouse. Such a challenge has also been put into action by grassroots pro-abortion projects who have facilitated abortion tourism, clandestine shipments of abortion pills across the border, and  “accompaniment” for pregnant people leaving the United States in search of care and advice.  Even before the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year, organizations such as Las Libres and Red Necesito Abortar were already offering such services. This cross-border network of abortion care is a historic tendency dating back to the days before Roe v. Wade, when Americans fled to Mexico for aid and access to the procedure. Now, Roe v. Wade’s reversal has increased this demand from Americans. Co-founder of Red Necesito Abortar Sandra Cardona told The Guardian the number of Americans requesting care soared after Senate Bill 8 went into effect in Texas in 2021, spiking from about four or five requests to hundreds each month. It is also not only Texas and states with conservative abortion policies where Americans are flocking from to get Mexico’s help. Even in states where abortion continues to be legal – such as California – medication abortions cost about $600, motivating many to seek alternative resources through these transnational networks which offer their services for free. In this year alone, Las Libres is projected to help terminate about 20,000 pregnancies in the United States through their pipeline shipments of abortion pills. However, even if this is not necessarily a new phenomenon, the combination of Mexico’s supreme court decision alongside these networks presents a strong challenge to  a global superpower, thus estranging the United States further from the rest of the Global North. 

While Mexico is challenging the United States in some ways, the country continues to look to its northern neighbor as a normative example. Activists on both sides of the pro-life and pro-choice spectrum within Mexico are drawing comparisons between the US and Mexico to anticipate the future of their causes. In a pessimistic light, senior legal advisor for the Center of Reproductive Rights Cristina Rosero points to the United States and its overturning of Roe v. Wade as an example of how unstable women’s rights are considered within global politics. Feeling wary the same regression may occur in Latin America, she claims, “The case of the United States is an example that women’s rights can never be taken for granted.” Meanwhile, for director of the Association for the Rights of the Conceived, Irma Barrientos, the United States’ overturning fuels her hope that one day Mexico can similarly return to its old policies and criminalization of abortion. She told AP News, “Let’s remember what happened in the United States. After 40 years, the Supreme Court reversed its abortion decision, and we’re not going to stop until Mexico guarantees the right to life from the moment of conception.” Thus, the United States is being both challenged and used by those reacting to the green wave movement as a normative superpower in the Global North. 

The Future

While it remains unclear what the future holds, as demonstrated by the United States’ overturning of Roe v. Wade, it is clear that  Mexico’s supreme court decision has been felt across the globe within the past month. In a press release on 7 September 2023, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk not only praised Mexico’s decision but “called on States around the world that still criminalize abortion to follow Mexico’s example and reform their laws.” As a result of its landmark decision,  Mexico has taken center stage and become an example to the rest of the world. However, while some countries and activists view the decision as positive momentum towards progressive abortion policies, other, more conservative countries look with heightened anxiety and disapproval. Nonetheless, what Mexico’s decriminalization of abortion has shown is that the ripple effects of the green wave will continue to be felt far and wide in the near future.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own, and may not reflect the opinions of The St Andrews Economist.

Image Courtesy of Diario Constitucional.