The Jalisco Congress is under pressure to act swiftly after a collegiate court this week ordered legislators to eliminate the existing clauses in the state penal code that criminalize abortion.
Pro-choice advocates hope the court’s order will spur Congress into bringing Jalisco’s laws in line with the September 7, 2021 ruling by the nation’s Supreme Court that declared the criminalization of abortion as unconstitutional.
Jalisco is one of 21 states yet to modify their penal codes, although abortion here is permitted in two instances: when there is serious risk to a woman’s health or life, and in cases of rape.
Even before the landmark Supreme Court ruling, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Hidalgo and Veracruz had permitted abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Since then, the state legislatures of Coahuila, Baja California, Colima, Sinaloa, Guerrero, Baja California Sur and Aguascalientes have followed suit.
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