Making unwanted advances on women that include physical contact is now considered a form of sexual abuse, according to a recent amendment to Jalisco’s penal code.
Prior to the statute’s modification, the sentence for groping a woman was six months in prison; the sentence now could be six years – or nine, if physical or psychological violence was involved in the assault.
Liliana Morons Vargas, the congresswoman in charge of the Legislative Commission on Gender Equality and a spear-header of the law’s amendment, explained that, prior to the recent action, the occurrence of penetration was requisite for the assault to be considered sexual abuse.