Members of civil and religious organizations protest against the decriminalization of abortion in the Mexican city of Guadalajara
Members of civil and religious organizations protest against the decriminalization of abortion in the Mexican city of Guadalajara AFP

Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday decriminalized abortion across the conservative Latin American country.

The court said on social media "that the legal system that penalizes abortion in the Federal Penal Code is unconstitutional, since it violates the human rights of women and people with the capacity to gestate."

It follows a similar ruling two years ago that abortion was not a crime.

That declaration followed a constitutional challenge to the penal code of the northern state of Coahuila, opening the way for women across the Catholic-majority country to access the procedure without fear of prosecution.

The Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE), which campaigns for abortion rights, welcomed the latest step decriminalizing abortion at the national level.

"Federal health institutions throughout the country will have to provide abortion services to women and people with the capacity to gestate who request it," the group said on social media.

Previously abortion had been decriminalized in a dozen of Mexico's 32 states, starting with the capital Mexico City in 2007.

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