Mexico City legalises abortion

The legislative assembly voted 46 to 19 in favour of the bill that will permit abortions of pregnancies in the first 12 weeks. 

Mexico City previously allowed abortion only in cases of rape, if the woman’s life was at risk or if there were signs of severe defects in the fetus. Opponents of the abortion law have said they will challenge it in the courts.

The BBC’s Duncan Kennedy, in Mexico City, reports that for years groups wanting to increase the rights of women have campaigned for change while conservative forces in the Catholic Church and elsewhere have fought to keep the practice outlawed.

The abortion vote split Mexico’s population, which is 90% Catholic, and prompted a letter last week from Pope Benedict XVI urging Mexican bishops to oppose it.

The Mexico City assembly has courted controversy in Mexico before, reports the BBC: it recently voted to allow same-sex civil unions and is currently considering legalising euthanasia.

Abortion legalised in Mexico City, BBC News, 25 April 2007