The Justice Commission of the Guanajuato Congress rejected the initiative to decriminalize abortion, which will be discussed next week in the legislative’s plenary session.
With a majority of three votes of the National Action Party (PAN), legislators opposed the proposal presented by the parliamentary groups of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) and the Citizen Movement, to allow the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in the State.
Guanajuato is one of the nine entities of the country that still does not decriminalize abortion, although since 2021 the Supreme Court of Justice declared unconstitutionalize the abortion decision, a sentence that was reinforced in 2023.
According to the PAN legislators who voted against the proposal, the Guanajuato Criminal Code should not be modified to adjust to the current regulatory framework.
Deputy Susana Bermúdez, of the PAN, argued that the decriminalization “transgresses the provisions of the first article of the Political Constitution of Guanajuato, which contemplates the right to life of the person from the moment of conception to his death.”
The discussion occurred in the midst of demonstrations for and against anti -abortion organizations and feminist groups.
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Although the initiative proposes decriminalization until 12 weeks of gestation, it also contemplates specific exceptions – as in cases of violation, risk for the life of women or serious malformations of the fetus – under which abortion would not be penalized in later stages of pregnancy.
The above has been used by some legislators, such as Bermúdez, and anti -abortion organizations to create confusion and misinformation, amid the debate.
For example, the Activate platform installed a sign in front of the legislative enclosure in which it deceptively accuses that the Guanajuato Congress plans to allow “aborting babies in the ninth month”.
The Citizen Movement initiative raises reforms to “decriminalize voluntary abortion until 12 weeks gestation, guarantee the provision of legal interruption services of pregnancy and establish prevention, care and education actions in sexual and reproductive health.”
While Morena’s proposal seeks to reform the Criminal Code to establish that “abortion is the interruption of pregnancy after the tenth week of gestation”, as read in the text of the initiative.
It also proposes that abortion “will not be punishable” under certain circumstances, such as violation, unseen artificial insemination or when an authority has previously denied the interruption of pregnancy within the first 12 weeks.
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The discussion opinions will be submitted to the Plenary of Congress, scheduled for next week.
The Congress of Mexico City, the first to decriminalize abortion in 2007, raised in November the elimination of the legal deadline to abort until 12 weeks, which did not prosper for conservative influences in the Legislative, where Morena has the majority.
With EFE information
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