Last week, Campeche became the 21st Mexican state to decriminalize abortion, according to reports. On February 24, local legislators approved the State Human Rights Commission to allow abortion through 12 weeks of pregnancy, while also increasing punishments for those who coerce a woman to abort her baby against her will.
According to the Yucatan Times, the new ruling modifies articles 157 and 158 of the state’s penal code, increasing the penalties for coercing a woman into an abortion (using physical or psychological violence) from eight to 10 years. It also modifies articles 155 and 159, eliminating all sanctions against anyone who commits a “voluntary abortion.”
The decision states, “This initiative does not propose the complete decriminalization of the interruption of pregnancy, because that would leave the fetus or embryo completely unprotected, which is recognized as an expectation of being in the context of the life project of those who wish to be mothers in the exercise of their autonomy of will.”
It continued, “On the other hand, the punitive power of the State is limited in a balancing exercise to enhance the exercise of the right of women and people with the capacity to pregnancy to decide the number of children they want to have, as well as spacing among these, without failing to recognize the legal protection and social relevance of the fetus or embryo.
“In that sense, it is not intended to completely eliminate the legal figure of abortion in the Penal Code of the State of Campeche, but rather consists of an exercise of harmonization of local criminal regulations in accordance with the precepts established.”
Warning: Images of abortion victims below.
In defense of legalizing abortion through 12 weeks, the legislators claimed that abortion “is an ancient practice present in all cultures of humanity, which will continue to exist as long as human beings have the capacity to gestate, regardless of legal regulation.” However, just because an act has been committed for generations doesn’t make it moral or ethical (like homicide, for example), and does not mean it should be legalized. Abortion is an act of homicide against a human who is not yet born.
The legislators further explained that they see pro-life laws that protect preborn children from the violence of abortion as “a form of violence by gender reasons specifically directed towards women… ” This isn’t a new declaration, but it is erroneous.
Pro-abortion legislators in the United States have made the same bold claim; however, such a statement is offensive to women who are survivors of rape and other violent acts. It also ignores that the very act of abortion is violent and puts the woman in the position of being the aggressor in perpetrating an act of violence to be carried out against her own child, which has been shown to lead to her own trauma.
The violence of abortion:
Baby Angel was found in a medical waste bin. Experts believe he was possibly exsanguinated and dismembered alive.
Baby Harriet was found in a medical waste bin outside a DC abortion facility. Photo courtesy of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising.
While the legislators claimed that legalizing abortion does not increase the number of abortions, they are wrong on this argument as well.
In February, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) released a study on the impact of recently enacted pro-life laws. It analyzed state-level fertility data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2012 to 2023, and found that state-level pro-life laws have resulted in statistically significant increases in state fertility rates. It is estimated that recently enacted pro-life laws have saved more than 22,000 human lives.
While abortion businesses have reported spikes in abortion visits when neighboring states enact pro-life laws, research and pro-abortion sources have indicated that distance from abortion facilities reduces the number of abortions.
