Mexico’s Supreme Court was poised on Wednesday to uphold legal abortion in the capital despite deep opposition elsewhere in the heavily Catholic country.
Eight of the 11 Supreme Court justices said during deliberations that they would vote against declaring the law unconstitutional.
Eight votes would be needed to strike it down, but only three judges have spoken in favor of doing so. The justices were expected to take a formal vote within the next couple of days.
“To affirm that there is an absolute constitutional protection of life in gestation would lead to the violation of the fundamental rights of women,” Justice Sergio Valls said.
Mexico City made it legal last year for doctors to terminate a pregnancy in the first 12 weeks, part of a package of socially liberal measures passed by the capital’s leftist-dominated assembly last year. Lawmakers also approved gay civil unions and passed protections for terminally ill people who reject medical treatment.
The federal Attorney-General’s Office and National Human Rights Commission appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that city assemblies can’t make health laws.
Elsewhere in Mexico, abortion is allowed only in cases of rape, when the mother’s life is in danger or if the fetus has severe deformities.
Most Latin American countries allow abortion only if the woman’s life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest. In 2006, Nicaragua banned abortion in all cases. Cuba permits abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, as does the US.
Since the law took effect, more than 12,000 women have had abortions at the 14 Mexico City hospitals providing them, the city health department said.
Of those, 20 percent have come from outside the capital, said Raffaela Schiavon, who directs the international abortion rights group Ipas and has been advising the city government.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS