Veracruz women will be able to abort without being criminalized until the 12th week of pregnancy. Veracruz is the fourth state to decriminalize abortion in Mexico and the organizations invite us to continue insisting that the legal interruption of pregnancy be a reality for the entire national territory

MEXICO CITY.- With 25 votes in favor, 13 against and one abstention, abortion was legalized in Veracruz. The initiative had been scheduled at five in the afternoon this Tuesday but was advanced six hours. At eleven o’clock in the morning, Congress began to discuss the opinion; by one in the afternoon the news that it had been approved traveled through Mexico and only five hours later the decree was published in the Official State Gazette. The reality of women in Veracruz has changed: now they will be able to abort by decision until the 12th week of pregnancy. 

During the discussion, some disagreements were presented by members of the National Action Party who used uninformed arguments such as that abortion is equivalent to a contraceptive method or that supposedly in countries like Romania its legalization generated that “the birth rate was no longer possible” these were part of the intervention of the deputy Gonzalo Guízar Valladares who during his speech also spoke of the Nazis.

None of these arguments were enough. The votes in favor were the majority and Veracruz became the fourth state to guarantee the right of women to decide on their bodies, in a country in which every day a person is denounced for having an abortion, according to data systematized by the Group of Information in Elected Reproduction.

Criminalizing abortion forces all women to be mothers, decriminalizing it does not force anyone to have an abortion.

-TURN

In Tribuna, the deputy of Morena Mónica Robles Barajas, author of the initiative, mentioned during her participation: “Women abort for very different personal reasons, if we could understand their circumstances we would not be talking about criminalizing them” / Photo: Congress of the State of Veracruz

To the reform

The Congress of the State of Veracruz voted in favor of reforming articles 149, 150, 151, 153, 154 and repealed article 152 of its Penal Code, thereby no longer criminalizing those who abort before reaching 12 weeks of pregnancy. 

But despite the fact that after week 12 it is still a crime to abort, there are some specifications of the reform highlighted by organizations such as the Information Group on Elected Reproduction (GIRE) and the Mexican Foundation for Family Planning (MEXFAM):

“The health cause was incorporated, the 90-day limit for victims of rape was eliminated and the lowest penalties in the entire country were established for the crime of abortion from the thirteenth week, among other modifications that protect health and the exercise of human rights,” MEXFAM published in a statement. 

Francisco Cue, in charge of legislative liaison at Gire, added other characteristics of the opinion: 

“Now Veracruz, with this reform, has become a state with fewer penalties, even below Mexico City, Oaxaca and Hidalgo. The doctors who must diagnose a pregnancy as at risk were reduced from two to one or one. Before, the opinion of a second doctor was requested, which served as an obstacle. Especially in rural clinics, where there is only one doctor” he explained.

These penalties are less for both the woman who interrupts her pregnancy and the person who helps her to abort. 

In recent years, independent accompaniment networks have increased. Ideally, they should not provide this support, but rather the public health services, but in the restrictive context of Mexico, their support, which is generally voluntary, becomes essential. From now on they will be able to accompany women without fear. 

“Veracruza organizations up to that moment had had to be operating somewhat clandestinely where if they directly interrupted the pregnancy they could be subject to criminal prosecution. With the decree published, these organizations can operate in broad daylight without being persecuted,” adds Cue.

For now, in Veracruz, as in Oaxaca, only the Penal Code has been modified, unlike in Mexico City and Hidalgo, where the Health Law was also reformed. Despite this, activists recognize that there is no impediment to starting to provide this service now in public and private hospitals:

“It would have been great if it was accompanied by a reform of the health law, but it is not essential, it is desirable. The protection of health is a right that is recognized, you do not need to have a law that orders that a certain service can be given or not, the health authorities will be able to start providing the services of the ILE with all the confidence that it will not be possible to exercise criminal action against him. Recently, the National Center for Gender Equity issued regulations for safe abortion in different scenarios, I mention it because it is a guide to start performing the services” shares the member of GIRE.

The hospitals are ready because they already provide this service in case of rape or danger to the life of the mother, but the problem is that they do not provide it enough. 

According to GIRE data, at least 600,000 sexual crimes are committed in Mexico, half of them in the home of the victims. From January 2009 to June 30, 2016, 70,630 complaints of rape were received in the local attorney general’s offices and in the PGR, but only 62 abortion procedures for rape were reported in the local health secretariats, IMSS and ISSSTE .

During 2020 in Veracruz, 287 women victims of sexual violence, between 10 and 19 years old, were treated by the State Health Secretariat. Of these cases, only six were provided Comprehensive Care for the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy; these six women were between 10 and 14 years old. And it is that Veracruz ranks second nationally with the highest number of teenage pregnancies. 

Dr. María Mayanit Martínez, interinstitutional relations advisor for the Mexican Foundation for Family Planning (MEXFAM) in Veracruz, tells how they have managed to get hospitals to respect the rights of women who have been sexually violated:

“We have worked since 2016 so that girls and adolescents can access the service even if they are more than 12 weeks old because they are adolescents. We have managed to get the Health Sector to turn to see their cases. In 2016, rule 046 was reformed and the first voluntary interruption of pregnancy due to rape of a 14-year-old girl was achieved. Subsequently we have had more cases: in 2017 four were achieved; in 2018 twelve between 10 and 31 years were achieved; in 2019 seventeen between 10 and 39 years were achieved; and in 2020 six between 10 and 14 years of age were achieved “recalls the doctor. 

As part of their work, they have trained doctors, managers, and have sought to ensure that there are enough contraceptives and medications such as Misoprostol in hospitals. With the legalization of abortion, the organizations hope that there will be budget adjustments and an increase in the number of medications for ILE in public hospitals in Veracruz.

Activists fighting for women’s reproductive rights. / Photo: Catholics for the Right to Decide

Insist, persist and resist

“Insist, persist and resist has been my motto for many years,” shares Dr. María Mayanit to talk about her work in favor of women’s rights. The doctor has been part of MEXFAM Veracruz for 23 years. The reproductive rights of women are their life struggle:

“For me this has been one of the greatest achievements I have ever had and it is what I am leaving to my daughter, my granddaughter, to all the women around me.”

Mary Mayanit

MEXFAM is part of a feminist articulation that has been working to achieve this right in Veracruz for years. This articulation makes up the Veracruz Front for Life and the Rights of Women and includes Catholics for the Right to Decide, GIRE, the National Citizen Observatory of Femicide, local leaders and organizations, and legislators who, before leaving the Local Congress, managed to vote on the initiative. 

They have relied on both international and national human rights bodies to achieve this right:

“Activists and organizations that defend women’s rights have pointed out that this was a pending debt indicated in different international and national recommendations on Human Rights, such as the Gender Alert for Comparative Tort in Veracruz, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council and the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development, among others,” MEXFAM shared in a statement.

To the green sea

The green tide is moving in Mexico from south to north. In 2019, Oaxaca became the second state to modify its Penal Code in favor of women’s rights. A few days ago, Hidalgo quickly and surprisingly became the third entity to allow voluntary abortion during the first three months. Veracruz is the fourth and with it it kindles the hope of Mexican women and organizations.

“I think that right now we are in a good moment, maybe we have the next three years left to be able to make this a fact, that it is real. There are compañeras who have fought a lot, like the compañeras from Quintana Roo, from Guerrero. Compañeras who have struggled with gender alerts, compañeras who are within the public administration doing their job and who push the issue from there… I think we have to continue handling it as we have until now, without giving up” says Dr. Mayanit.

Illustration: Cancun Feminist Conversation

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