Sinaloa decriminalizes abortion up to 13 weeks

A feminist collective demonstrates in Culiacán to demand the legalization of abortion. Lizbeth Hernández

The fight of Mexican women for reproductive rights has won a new battle this March 8.

The Congress of the State of Sinaloa has approved the decriminalization of abortion up to 13 weeks of gestation.

With this law that allows the interruption of pregnancy in accordance with the criteria of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), established in a historic ruling last September, Sinaloa joins the other six entities in the country that do not pursue the courts, at least during the first three months, to women who decide to abort.

The States that already have this right are still a minority, seven of the 32 territories of the federation, but the vote held this Tuesday afternoon in Culiacán is one more step.

“Never again will a woman be in jail for making the decision to have an abortion.

The green tide advances in Sinaloa ”, the president of the Senate board of directors, Olga Sánchez Cordero, one of the leaders of the self-styled Fourth Transformation who has most promoted this debate, has celebrated on her social networks.

With 28 votes in favor, two against and nine abstentions, Sinaloa follows the path of Mexico City, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Hidalgo, Baja California and Colima.

In the rest of the country, the interruption of pregnancy is allowed under the assumption of rape and, in some cases, for reasons related to fetal viability, mother's health and extreme poverty.

During the discussion of the initiative in the local Congress, the secretary of the board of directors, Nela Rosiely Sánchez, representative of the ruling Morena party, affirmed that criminalizing abortion "is a type of gender violence", since before the prohibition women resort to clandestine practices.

Sinaloa! pic.twitter.com/sEVyobkanq

– Arturo Zaldívar (@ArturoZaldivarL) March 9, 2022

Behind the uncontrolled abortions in the State of Sinaloa, Sánchez Cordero herself recalled in a recent debate, there are very worrying figures: around 1,500 each year.

The safety of women is one of the purposes that led the Supreme Court to rule on the matter.

Although in practice the decision of the highest constitutional court in the country only rectified the Penal Code of the State of Coahuila, in the north of the country, it set a mandatory precedent for all Mexican courts.

The President of the Court, Arturo Zaldívar, welcomed the decision by posting on Twitter a photograph of a woman's raised fist wearing a green scarf, a feminist symbol.

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