Abortion rights gain ground in Latin America
Mexico City is voting Tuesday on a bill that would legalize abortion.
from the April 23, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
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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