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About The Mexico Abortion Bill
Senators from Mexico's largest leftist party on Tuesday sent a bill proposing to legalize abortion nationwide, a measure strongly opposed by the nation's conservative and Roman Catholic leaders.
Under the bill filed by the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, the second-largest force in Congress, women would be able to have an abortion within the first three months of pregnancy. The bill also proposes that government health clinics provide women with abortions if they request them.
"We need to stop thousands of women from dying in unsafe operations," said Sen. Carlos Navarrete who heads the PRD in the Senate. "This is a right our laws should guarantee."
Under current Mexican law, abortion is only permitted if the pregnancy endangers a woman's life or if the woman has been raped.
Many wealthier Mexican women travel to the United States for the procedure while thousands more poorer women remain in Mexico and have back-street operations.
The PRD also has proposed legalizing abortion in the capital, where they hold the mayorship and a majority of lawmakers. Mexico City, with a population of 8.7 million, is a federal district similar to Washington, D.C., with its own legislature.
PRD lawmakers say they are confident their majority in the capital will guarantee it becomes Mexico's first district to change the abortion rules. But it could be harder to pass an abortion bill at a national level, where the conservative National Action Party of President Felipe Calderon is the strongest force.
Calderon on Tuesday reiterated his position against abortion.
"I have a personal conviction, and I am in defense of life," he told a news conference. "I have a plain respect for dignity and human life and within this I believe the existing legislation is adequate."
On Thursday, anti-abortion groups plan to march in Mexico City to oppose more liberal abortion laws.
Abogados March 21, 2007 07:25 PM | Preguntas Para Abogados
