If a Mexican woman has an abortion, she could find herself in jail unless she had been raped, her life was at risk or there was a likelihood of severe birth defects. But that’s about to change in the capital city, home to one-fifth of Mexico’s population, where the legislature has voted by a wide margin to decriminalize abortion.

AP via Houston Chronicle:

MEXICO CITY — Mexico City lawmakers voted to legalize abortion Tuesday, a decision likely to influence policies and health practices across Mexico and other parts of heavily Roman Catholic Latin America.

The proposal, approved 46-19, with one abstention, will take effect with the expected signing by the city’s leftist mayor. Abortion opponents have already vowed to appeal the law to the Supreme Court, a move likely to extend the bitter and emotional debate in this predominantly Catholic nation.

“Decriminalizing abortion is a historic triumph, a triumph of the left,” said city legislator Jorge Diaz Cuervo, a leftist social democrat who voted for the bill. “Today, there is a new atmosphere in this city. It is the atmosphere of freedom.”

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#abortion#choice#health#latin america#mexico#rights#women