Mexico’s Path to Legalizing Abortion

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2021

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

In a major turn of events in Mexico, which has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world, its Supreme Court last week decriminalized abortions. The Supreme Court ruling is a milestone for Mexico’s feminist movement. But change might not come quickly: Abortion law is mostly administered at the state level in Mexico, much of the country remains culturally conservative, and many Mexican medical workers are morally opposed to abortion. In a country where polls indicate most people don’t believe that abortion should be legal, what effect will the ruling have in practice? Guest: Natalie Kitroeff, a correspondent covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From New York Times, I'm Michael Bobaro.
0:02.6	This is Adali.
0:03.8	Today, a landmark court ruling has put Mexico on a path toward legalizing abortion.
0:18.9	But in a deeply conservative and Catholic country, the question is whether changing the law
0:25.5	around abortion will change how people in Mexico feel about it.
0:30.9	Kevin Rus spoke with our colleague, Natalie Kijof, in Mexico City.
0:44.6	It's Wednesday, September 15th.
0:52.2	So Natalie, it's been a big month of news on the issue of abortion in the U.S..
0:57.9	There was this Supreme Court ruling on a Texas law.
1:02.1	But you've been following another major abortion ruling that came down last week from the Mexican
1:07.6	Supreme Court.
1:08.6	Could you tell us about that ruling?
1:11.3	So Mexico's Supreme Court last week said that abortion is no longer a crime.
1:19.0	They decriminalized abortion across the country.
1:21.8	It was a major turn of events for Mexico, which has one of the biggest Catholic populations
1:27.4	in the world.
1:29.2	So what does that mean exactly?
1:30.9	What does it mean to decriminalize abortion?
1:34.6	So in order to understand what it means to decriminalize abortion, you kind of have to understand
1:39.6	what it means that abortion is a crime.
1:43.1	In most states in Mexico, there have been laws on the books that basically say that women
1:49.2	can go to jail for up to three years for receiving an abortion.
	...

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