The ruling responds to a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the law (amparo) filed by a civil association, unnamed in the text, against articles 330, 331, and 332 of the Federal Penal Code, which establish sanctions for women who abort, for health professionals who perform the procedure, and for those who pressure women to abort.
Reuters reported that the association is GIRE, an acronym in Spanish for Information Group on Reproductive Choice, which celebrated the decision.
The lawsuit also challenges articles 333 and 334, which establish the cases when the crime of abortion is not punishable such as carelessness on the part of the pregnant woman (unintentional miscarriage), rape, and danger to the life of the mother.
The ruling by the First Chamber of the Supreme Court “safeguards and protects” the association that filed the constitutional protection lawsuit.
“This First Chamber considers that the declaration of unconstitutionality translates into a tangible benefit for the plaintiff civil association, in terms of the correct development of its corporate purpose, since it will allow it to guarantee that the women and persons with the capacity to gestate that it accompanies have access to services of safe and quality abortion, and that neither they nor the personnel who seeks an interruption of the pregnancy are criminalized under any circumstances,” the ruling states.
Following the approval of the draft ruling, a substantially same final version will be issued in which the judges may express their individual opinions.