Mexico City lawmakers on Wednesday began hearings on a bill that would allow pregnant women in the city to obtain a legal abortion during the first three months' gestation, the Los Angeles Times reports (Tobar, Los Angeles Times, 3/29). Lawmakers from Mexico's Party of the Democratic Revolution recently proposed the measure.
The party holds Mexico City's mayorship and the majority in the city's Legislature. Democratic Revolution party members are confident that the bill will pass in Mexico City. Under current Mexican law, abortion is permitted only if the life of the pregnant woman is endangered or if the woman has been raped (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 3/22). The Democratic Revolution party on Tuesday also filed a bill in the lower house of Congress that would legalize abortion nationwide during the first three months' gestation, the Associated Press reports (Grillo, Associated Press, 3/28). The bill also proposes that government health clinics provide abortions to women who request them. Leaders of Roman Catholic, Anglican, evangelical and Orthodox churches last week said they have united to call on their followers to advocate against the measure. Mexican President Felipe Calderon last week said, "I have a plain respect of the dignity of human life, and within this I believe the existing legislation is adequate." Calderon's National Action Party is the strongest force in the country's Congress (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 3/22). According to the Associated Press, thousands of abortion-rights opponents, led by Cardinal Norberto Rivera, marched through Mexico City on Sunday (Associated Press, 3/28). Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said wealthier women in Mexico are able to access abortions, while poor women use unlicensed practitioners or homemade concoctions to have abortions, McClatchy/Seattle Times reports (Hall, McClatchy/Seattle Times, 3/28).