Written by Paulina Macías Ortega.
Paulina is a 2024-2025 LL.M. candidate in National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, researching reproductive rights at the O’Neill Institute. Her work focuses on human rights litigation and advocacy within the Inter-American and Universal Systems, with a gender perspective. Her interests include sexual and reproductive rights, feminist legal theory, constitutional law, bioethics, and autonomy.
The struggle for abortion decriminalization in Mexico has marked a watershed year in 2024. Seven state legislatures have partially decriminalized abortion, while three court rulings have paved the way for additional federal entities to follow suit. As of December 2024, 19 of the country’s 32 federal entities have decriminalized abortion, with many of these achievements realized this year alone. This progress warrants a careful examination of these milestones and the path forward.
To contextualize this year’s achievements in reproductive rights, we must look back at Mexico’s journey. In 2007, Mexico City (then the Federal District) legalized abortion during the first trimester, becoming the largest jurisdiction in Latin America outside Cuba to provide safe and legal abortion services. This victory, achieved through the persistent efforts of reproductive rights groups and activists, set a crucial precedent.
The aftermath of Mexico City’s decision, however, triggered significant pushback. Several state legislatures responded by amending their constitutions to strengthen protections for the unborn. By December 2008, Baja California and Morelos had enacted such protections defending life from conception, with twelve more states following in 2009 and two in 2010. It would take until 2019 for new progress, when Oaxaca became the second state to permit abortion during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy.
A transformative shift occurred in 2021 when Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that the absolute criminalization of abortion was unconstitutional. This landmark decision, stemming from the Coahuila case, affirmed for the first time the right of women and pregnant individuals to make reproductive choices without criminal consequences. As a result, the Coahuila legislature invalidated the articles that had criminalized abortion. That same year, Hidalgo, Veracruz, Baja California, and Colima amended their penal codes to decriminalize abortion up to the twelfth week of gestation, catalyzing a nationwide wave of reform. In 2023, the Supreme Court further solidified this progress by determining that the section of the Federal Criminal Code criminalizing abortion would no longer have legal effect.
The momentum continued throughout 2024. On July 15, Puebla’s Congress decriminalized abortion up to the 12th week of gestation, marking the year’s first legislative victory. In October, two neighboring states followed: Jalisco, following a Collegiate Court ruling, and Michoacan, through a local law initiative supported by feminist collectives. In November, four additional states joined the trend: San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas, Estado de México, and Chiapas all decriminalized abortion up to 12 weeks of gestation.
All states implementing reforms this year established exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or non-consensual insemination, as well as cases where the pregnant person’s life or health is in danger. Chiapas stands as the only exception, not including health-related exemptions. San Luis Potosi and Estado de Mexico added exemptions for unintentional abortions, while Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Chiapas included cases of severe genetic or fetal abnormalities. Michoacan uniquely included economic hardship as grounds for exemption, while Jalisco was the only state to address child sexual abuse cases specifically.
The regulatory landscape for abortion in Mexico has become increasingly complex. Beyond the option to terminate pregnancy within the first twelve weeks, there are now ten grounds for legal exemption, each regulated differently across the thirty-two states. This complexity presents significant challenges for pregnant people seeking an abortion and healthcare professionals throughout the country.
In these reforms, criminalization approaches vary by state. Estado de Mexico, Jalisco, and Puebla established stricter penalties for medical professionals who assist with abortions.In Jalisco, the law imposes prison terms of four months to one year for women who terminate pregnancies after 12 weeks, while medical providers face three to six years in prison and possible license suspension. Estado de Mexico focuses on penalizing medical personnel with professional suspensions ranging from three to six years, which can be extended to 20 years for multiple offenses.
Other states have moved toward community service measures. Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, and Michoacan established community service requirements ranging from 100 to 300 days for abortions after the 12-week framework. Chiapas took a unique approach, requiring one to three months of gender-perspective integral treatment under local gender equality laws and without specifying penalties for medical professionals.
While the shift from imprisonment to community service represents progress, it remains insufficient. The continued criminalization of abortion has serious consequences. Research indicates that criminalizing abortion impedes access to information, restricts provider training, and is linked to delayed and unsafe procedures, without achieving its purported protective goals.
The disparity in penalties and criminalization across states creates practical challenges. When neighboring states have drastically different standards – such as one state imposing years of imprisonment while its neighbor allows unrestricted access – it creates uneven standards in reproductive healthcare access. This can potentially lead to provider migration and legal uncertainty, as healthcare providers face a challenging balance between protecting their legal standing and prioritizing patient care.
While 2024 has marked unprecedented progress in reproductive rights across Mexico, the path forward remains complex and challenging. Recent developments highlight both the potential for continued advancement and the persistent threat of regression. Three additional judicial decisions have declared the criminal regulation and prohibition of voluntary pregnancy termination unconstitutional: a Supreme Court ruling in Yucatan and similar rulings by Collegiate Courts in Nayarit and Morelos. These decisions suggest that 2025 could bring further decriminalization, though the specific terms and implementation remain to be determined.
However, concerning setbacks have emerged. In August 2024, Aguascalientes regressed from a 12-week to a 6-week window for legal abortion, violating the principle of non-regression and creating dangerous barriers to healthcare access, particularly for vulnerable populations like young sexual violence survivors. Similarly, Mexico City’s frozen initiative to completely remove abortion from the Penal Code—halted due to political timing concerns—echoes the backlash that followed the city’s groundbreaking 2007 decriminalization.
These contrasting developments underscore a crucial reality: progress in reproductive rights is neither linear nor guaranteed. The complex regulatory landscape across Mexico’s states continues to create disparities in healthcare access and legal protections. As more states move toward decriminalization, whether through legislative action or court mandates, the challenge lies not only in expanding these gains but in preventing regression and ensuring consistent, accessible reproductive healthcare throughout the country.
Looking ahead, Mexico stands at a critical juncture in its reproductive rights journey. While the momentum toward decriminalization continues, sustained vigilance and advocacy remain essential to protect and advance these hard-won rights. The true measure of success will lie not just in legal reforms but in creating a healthcare system that ensures equitable access to safe abortion services for all who need them, regardless of their location or circumstances.