Experts and feminist groups are fighting to make abortion a reality in Jalisco, the third most populous state in Mexico, after the reform that decriminalized abortion up to the 12th week of gestation.
Specialists advocate that the decriminalization of abortion approved this month in the entity be accompanied by a specific law on the matter and an improvement in hospital practices that guarantees that all women and pregnant people have access to this reproductive right.
Violeta Sandoval, a lawyer specialized in human rights, said that two weeks after the reform that allows abortion up to 12 weeks of gestation in the Jalisco Penal Code, there is a feeling that the initiative fell short and leaves legal loopholes.
“It complies with the essential minimum, which was precisely this extension to 12 weeks, homologating it to what is established in Mexico City, with that it is moderately decriminalized because (the concept of abortion) at the end of the day is still in the Code Criminal, it is not eliminated as such,” he stated.
The Congress of the entity, one of the most conservative in the country, approved on October 4 to eliminate the article that defined abortion as a crime and modified another section to allow this procedure up to 12 weeks of gestation, in addition to adding other causes. to exclude women from any penalties.
This change was mandatory because in April a federal court declared the articles of the local Penal Code that prohibited elective abortion unconstitutional and ordered the local Congress to eliminate them.
Sandoval stated that, although this decision is a small step to guarantee sexual and reproductive rights, it is necessary for the legislature to review article 4 of the state Constitution, which recognizes the protection of life from the moment of fertilization and generates a specific law regarding abortion.
“And beyond the laws, we have to talk about what the professional training of people who are part of the health sector will now be like, (and) a specific law” that determines how the service will be offered, he noted.
Don’t miss: Church asks CDMX Congress to evaluate decriminalization of abortion
Activists denounce refusals of medical personnel to perform abortions
Since 2021, in Jalisco eight hospitals have been treating cases of legal termination of pregnancy for the four reasons that, until September, were allowed by law, including sexual rape.
However, many of those who go to the clinics receive refusals from the medical team to perform the procedure, undergo interrogations or ultrasounds to force them to see the embryo, or are told that there are no doctors who perform the abortion, reported sexologist Alan Ortiz. .
The doctor worked in public health institutions and said that many health professionals put their personal ideas before their public function and name themselves conscientious objectors, that is, for ethical reasons they are freed from the possibility of performing abortions.
“It was (non-objectors) me and my other partner who was also in the abortion program, a doctor and nothing more,” said the expert, who denounced that “some residents” were forced to sign as conscientious objectors in order not to carry out the procedure. procedure.
According to an investigation by local channel 44 with data obtained through transparency, eight out of every 10 doctors assigned to clinics for the legal interruption of pregnancy appealed to conscientious objection, that is, only 10 are available to carry out this practice throughout the state.
Johana Sosa, from the “Marias contraception” collective, in Lagos de Moreno, denounced that in that municipality the public clinics do not even attend to cases of sexual rape.
Even both the regional hospital and the one in Tepatitlán, where women also went, stopped offering the service because the doctors refused to terminate the pregnancies.
“The least we can hope for is that this right can truly be guaranteed and that women can receive dignified care, dignified treatment, without stigma, without violence, without prejudice, when they are treated,” Sosa concluded.
With information from EFE
Do you use Facebook more? Leave us a like to be informed
