Mexico high court strikes down limit in rape case abortions
Mexico's Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional a state law that limited legal abortions for rape victims to the first trimester of a pregnancy
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a state law limiting legal abortions for rape victims to the first trimester of a pregnancy is unconstitutional.
The ruling involved a law in the southern state of Chiapas, where a doctor cited the statute in denying a rape victim an abortion because too much time had passed. The court said the law unfairly denied the right to dignity and free choice for the woman, who has severe cerebral palsy who was under age at the time of the rape..
All but two of Mexico’s 32 states allow abortion in rape cases, but some impose limits.
The decision came one day after legalized, first-trimester abortion went into effect the central state of Hidalgo, only the third state — along with Mexico City and Oaxaca — to allow it.
