Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Becker wrote the first draft of the article. In April , the Mexico City, Mexico, legislature passed landmark legislation decriminalizing elective abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. By contrast, abortion has continued to be restricted across the Mexican states each state makes its own abortion laws , and there has been an antichoice backlash against the legislation in 16 states.
In addition, the law strengthened sexual education curricula in schools and called for widespread access to contraceptive methods. Shortly after being passed, the law was challenged in the Mexican Supreme Court by groups opposed to the legislation, but in August , the Supreme Court voted to uphold the law.
Even when abortions were legally permitted, however, numerous barriers made accessing a legal abortion extremely difficult. One study estimated the induced abortion rate in Mexico in to be 33 abortions per women aged 15 to 44 years, a comparatively high rate by global standards. From to , 7. Inequity was an important dimension of unsafe abortion in Mexico. A study that used data from the Mexican National Demographic Survey found the risk of having an unsafe abortion was highest for poor women, those with low levels of education, and those who belonged to indigenous groups.
The Mexico City abortion law reform is significant not only for Mexico, but also for the entire Latin American and Caribbean region, which continues to have some of the most restrictive abortion laws globally. We describe developments since this landmark reform was passed, both in Mexico City and in the states of Mexico. We highlight the development of the public sector legal abortion program by the MOH-DF, including important trends in this program.
We also discuss the backlash that has occurred since abortion decriminalization. Shortly following the abortion decriminalization decision, the MOH-DF established a public sector legal abortion program to provide abortion services. Therefore, clients who regularly attend these facilities must attend MOH-DF facilities if they wish to obtain a public sector legal abortion. The MOH-DF legal abortion program began in 14 hospitals, and in its first year, more than women received legal abortion services.
