Oaxaca decriminalizes abortion

This Wednesday, congresspeople of the 64 Legislature of the State of Oaxaca celebrated an ordinary session to vote on the decriminalization of abortion in the Mexican entity.

With a total of 24 votes in favor and 12 against , the legislature determined the modification to Crime Law in the state to decriminalize pregnancy interruption up to the 12th week of pregnancy.

In her intervention, the legislator from MORENA party and president of the Commission of Justice Pursuit and Administration , Elisa Zepeda Laguna expressed that the sanctions included in the reform consider the possibility of six to ten years of imprisonment for forced abortion. In addition, it standardizes local legislation with rule 046 for the access to legal pregnancy interruption in case of rape, malformation of the fetus, and risk for the mother.

“We find no negative reasons to disapprove the verdict. There can be moral reasons , but it is urgent to legislate to hinder violence against women ,” she said. And she added that each year in Oaxaca, over 2,300 abortions are performed, plus the clandestine ones.

The legislative proposal has the objective of reforming articles 312, 313, 315 , and 316 of the criminal code for the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca and modifies different requirements for Legal Pregnancy Interruption .

For her part, congresswoman Magaly López Domínguez , who wore a green scarf in her neck and hand, stressed that “no one is in favor of abortion, but of saving the lives of women that have to take that decision.”

Mexico City: 13 years since the approval of legal interruption of pregnancy

Likewise, she highlighted that international organisms have urged for the decriminalization of pregnancy interruption and to consider it a human right .

“In Oaxaca, abortion is the third cause of maternal death ,” she stressed.

She clarified that the measure does not decriminalize abortion in its totality, but that it adjusts the sanctions after the 12 weeks of pregnancy .

With these changes, abortion is a crime only if the pregnancy is interrupted after the 12th week .

By not obtaining the 28 required votes, the constitutional reform to article 12 is still pending, with which it would be established that the State must protect life from birth and not from conception.

The result was informed in presence of media outlets and members of both Pro-life groups as well as Pro-choice groups like Green Tide (Marea Verde) in favor of the right of women to take decisions regarding their bodies.

Before the result, outside the legislative compound, both movements protested to express their stances regarding the topic.

Then, they moved to the assembly hall to attend the session.

Attendance exceeded the capacity of the hall, the reason why the session was on the verge of changing its location.

Meanwhile, before the ballot, congresspeople starred an argument , pointing out that some of them generated chaos in the place and, as consequence, an overcrowded place that did not have the necessary measures of civil protection, but, finally, they urged the audience to maintain order and held the session.

Abortion is still punished in Mexico

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