Is abortion legal in Mexico?
Abortion is decriminalized at the federal level thanks to the ruling of September 2023. However, in Mexico each State has autonomy to carry out its legislation, so due to this, each federal entity still needs to make the pertinent adjustments to their local criminal codes to harmonize them with the federal legislation.
The federal government’s Ministry of Health in 2022 initiated a program called “Safe Abortion,” which mandates that the public health sector of each federal entity has at least one space to provide legal pregnancy termination services. To regulate compliance, the Ministry of Health issued the Technical Guideline for the Care of Safe Abortion. Furthermore, in the ruling issued in September 2023 it is mentioned that federal health institutions, as well as IMSS and ISSTE, must provide abortion services to people who request it.
If you were a victim of rape, it is important to know that you have the right to access legal, safe, and free abortion in ALL states of the country. This, due to the protection of NOM-046 that regulates all health centers in Mexico, and which establishes that any person who is a victim of sexual violence can access a legal abortion without the need to file a criminal complaint, only requiring a written request from the person who wishes to access the procedure. Additionally, although some states have attempted to regulate it, it is important to know that NOM-046 does not require a maximum gestational week limit to guarantee the right to legal abortion in cases of rape.
Given that each State has different local legislations, even with the federal decriminalization, to date abortion remains classified as a crime in some state criminal codes, however these codes must be adjusted to the federal sentence.
For now, each state has specific grounds that allow access to the procedure legally. The federal entities that have legalized abortion up to the 12th week of gestation at the woman’s request are: Aguascalientes (up to the 6th week), Baja California, Baja California Sur, Mexico City, Coahuila, Colima, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, and Veracruz; Sinaloa allows it up to the 13th week.
Chihuahua, Jalisco, Nayarit, Yucatán, and Zacatecas have court rulings that order the removal of criminal penalties for abortion, but they still need to amend their local legislation to ensure access in public hospitals and clinics.
The legal grounds for accessing an abortion in each State are:
- Aguascalientes—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, if the woman’s life is in danger, and/or at the woman’s request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
- Baja California—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, serious fetal abnormalities, unwanted insemination, and/or at the woman’s request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
- Baja California Sur—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, serious fetal abnormalities, unwanted insemination, and/or at the woman’s request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
- Campeche—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, and/or a woman’s health is at risk.
- Chiapas—Rape, the woman’s life is in danger, and/or serious fetal abnormalities.
- Chihuahua—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, and/or unwanted insemination.
- Coahuila de Zaragoza—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, serious fetal abnormalities, unwanted insemination, and/or at the woman’s request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
- Colima—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, serious fetal abnormalities, unwanted insemination, and/or omission of information.
- Durango—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, and/or if the woman’s life is in danger.
- Guanajuato—Rape and/or reckless or negligent conduct.
- Guerrero—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, unwanted insemination, serious fetal abnormalities, and/or at the woman’s request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
- Hidalgo—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, serious fetal abnormalities, unwanted insemination, and/or at the woman’s request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
- Jalisco—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger, and/or her health is at risk.
- Mexico City—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, serious fetal abnormalities, unwanted insemination, and/or at the woman’s request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
- Michoacán de Ocampo—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, unwanted insemination, serious fetal abnormalities, and/or economic problems.
- Morelos—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger, serious fetal abnormalities, and/or unwanted insemination.
- Nayarit—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health.
- Nuevo León—Rape, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health.
- Oaxaca—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, serious fetal abnormalities, unwanted insemination, and/or at the woman’s request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
- Puebla—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger, and/or serious fetal abnormalities.
- Querétaro—Rape and/or reckless or negligent conduct.
- Quintana Roo—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger, serious fetal abnormalities, and/or at the woman’s request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
- San Luis Potosí—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger, and/or unwanted insemination.
- State of Mexico—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger, and/or serious fetal abnormalities.
- Sinaloa—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, serious fetal abnormalities, unwanted insemination, and/or at the woman’s request up to 13 weeks of pregnancy.
- Sonora—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, and/or if the woman’s life is in danger.
- Tabasco—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger, and/or unwanted insemination.
- Tamaulipas—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health.
- Tlaxcala—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, unwanted insemination, and/or fetal abnormalities.
- Veracruz—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health, serious fetal abnormalities, unwanted insemination, and/or at the woman’s request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
- Yucatán—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger, serious fetal abnormalities, unwanted insemination, and/or for economic reasons.
- Zacatecas—Rape, reckless or negligent conduct, the woman’s life is in danger or there are risks to her health.
