The Mexico Supreme Court has announced that it has accepted a petition, filed by the National Human Right's Commission (NHRC), to review the constitutionality of a Mexico City law that allows pregnant women to obtain an abortion during the first three months' gestation.
Lawmakers from the Party of the Democratic Revolution in March in the Mexico City Legislature proposed allowing abortions during the first three months of pregnancy in the city, and lawmakers approved the measure in April.
City Health Secretary Manuel Mondragon said the law requires that women seeking abortions prove they are residents of the city except in cases of medical emergency.
He also said that each facility would be able to perform about seven abortions daily. Girls younger than age 18 will need parental consent to obtain an abortion. The law allows gynaecologists who have moral objections to refrain from performing abortions.
NHRC, along with the attorney general's office, filed the petition, saying that the law violates a constitutional clause guaranteeing the right to life and that city legislators do not have the authority to approve measures related to health.
The votes of eight of the court's 11 justices are required to overturn a law.
“It's a political manoeuvre to satisfy a certain public opinion over this law," Mexico City Mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, said, adding, "But legally, it's got no base."
Meanwhile, opponents of the law have said they will protest in front of city hospitals and encourage physicians to be "conscientious objectors," who will not perform abortions.
About 700 women have requested abortions at city public hospitals since legislators passed the law and hundreds more women have received abortions at private clinics, government officials and abortion-rights groups said recently.
"There has not been a huge demand, like many people supposed," Mondragon told city legislators at a hearing last week, adding that abortion opponents "thought that once abortion was legalized, everyone would get one. That hasn't been the case."
Source: Kaiser Network 29/May/07