Abortion rights gain ground in Latin America

Although the Mexican state of Yucatán currently is the most expansive – allowing women with three children to get abortions if they can prove they don't have the means to support another child – Mexico City's would be the most liberal.

A survey in Mexico in January by the polling firm Consulta Mitofsky showed that the country split evenly when asked if women should be able to decide freely whether they want an abortion in the first three months. But when responses were separated between rural and urban areas, the numbers shifted: Of those in urban areas, 53 percent supported the idea, while 62 percent in rural areas reported being against it.

Luis Mota, the gatekeeper of ancient Purepecha ruins in Ihuatzio near Patzcuaro, says that the debate has divided his town, too: Some support it and some are against it, just like in the cities. And, he says, women will get abortions no matter what. Yet legalizing it could have a broader impact on society. "You have to weigh the causes," he says. "This law could repeat itself across the country."

Miles down the lake in Tocuaro, Ana Laura Orta, an 18-year-old whose family has long partaken in the ancient mask-making craft famous there, says that the decision gives society – especially youths – more reason to do what they please. She says teens from her town could easily go to Mexico City to get an abortion. "Now we look more to Guanajuato [a state that has seen protests against the abortion measure] than Mexico City," she says.

Instead of pushing the rural areas farther away from the cities, says María Consuelo Mejía, the director of Mexico's Catholics for the Right to Decide, it could equalize the two as more women from rural areas, with the lowest education levels and access to medical care, are given an alternative. They are, after all, those most likely to die by abortions in seedy clinics. "It's an issue of social justice," she says.

Catholic Church wants a referendum

Marcelino Hernandez, the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico, recently warned legislators that if they vote for the proposed bill to legalize abortion they would be excommunicated upon the first procedure under law. The Roman Catholic Church is also pushing for a national referendum on the issue, hoping that will stop the Mexico City initiative.

But Roberto Blancarte, a sociologist of religion at the College of Mexico, says the Church will not influence public opinion as it might have in the past.

Democracy has played a larger role, though, says Mr. Blancarte. After 71 years of authoritarian, one-party rule, Mexico has, since 2000, been undergoing deep changes at all levels. "This all demonstrates how much control the Catholic Church has lost," he says. "It's inevitable. The churches cannot escape the general process of democratization here."

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