'Green Wave Continues' Across Latin America as Mexican Supreme Court Decriminalizes Abortion

Mexico on Wednesday became the latest Latin American country to leave behind federal criminal penalties for abortion care, marking the latest success of the "Green Wave"—the pro-abortion rights movement that has helped pressure lawmakers to legalize abortion care in conservative, largely Catholic countries including Argentina and Colombia in recent years.

The Supreme Court said that federal laws banning abortion care are unconstitutional and violate "the human rights of women and people with the ability to gestate."

The ruling comes exactly two years after the court unanimously ruled that a law in the northern state of Coahuila, which subjected people who had abortions to up to three years in prison, was unconstitutional.

Federal public health agencies and institutions will now be required to provide abortion care, regardless of state laws, although rights advocates noted that even in states that have decriminalized abortion, law enforcement agencies have continued to investigate people for ending pregnancies.

Although it will take more legal action to decriminalize the procedure in 20 states where abortion still carries penalties at the state level, Nadine Gasman, president of the National Institute for Women, called the ruling a "big step towards gender equality and women's freedom."

The Green Wave—named for the green bandannas worn by advocates who have assembled at huge reproductive rights rallies—saw a major success in Argentina in 2020 when the Senate passed a law legalizing abortion. Colombia's Supreme Court also decriminalized abortion care in 2022, and green wave protests have taken place in countries such as Chile and Peru, where public outcry last month pushed the government to allow an 11-year-old girl to access an abortion after she was raped by her stepfather.

As abortion restrictions have begun falling across the region, which is heavily influenced by the Catholic Church, nearly two dozen states in the U.S. have banned or heavily restricted abortion care since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the bans in states including Texas have pushed people to seek care in neighboring states that have expanded access, with the number of abortions provided in New Mexico, Kansas, and Colorado rising by more than 60% in the first six months of 2023.

As the Texas Tribune has reported, people who live in southern Texas have also increasingly sought care across the border in Mexico, purchasing inexpensive medications that can be taken at home to end a pregnancy at drugstores in border towns.

Wednesday's ruling may have further "ripple effects" in the state, where abortion care is almost entirely prohibited, reported the Tribune.

"We live in a world," said Mississippi Free Press editor Ashton Pittman, "where it's feasible that many American women may soon find that crossing the border into 78% Catholic Mexico may be their best option for obtaining an abortion."

Dr. Anu Kumar, president of the international reproductive rights group Ipas, said pro-forced pregnancy lawmakers in the U.S. "should take note—we are now outliers in the world."

"Mexico is now part of a group of countries leading on reproductive freedom," said Kumar, "whereas the United States is denying it."