UN human rights chief Volker Turk called on Mexico to enact the necessary legislation to expunge abortion from the Federal penal code.
The move “represents a major victory for women in Mexico in their decades-long struggle for their bodily autonomy and their sexual and reproductive health and rights,” high commissioner for human rights Volker Turk said in a statement issued yesterday. The ruling allows people access to abortions in federal health institutions and warns that medical personnel cannot be prosecuted for providing the service.
The decriminalisation is a landmark decision in Mexico, where more than 80% of the country’s 130 million residents are Catholic. The Church has previously objected to abortion reforms.In Latin America, elective abortion is legal in Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, and Uruguay.