Mexico Lawmaker Files Bill to Crack Down on Illegal, Forced Abortions

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 2, 2007   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Mexico Lawmaker Files Bill to Crack Down on Illegal, Forced Abortions Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 2
, 2007

Mexico City, Mexico (LifeNews.com) — A legislator in the Mexico Congress has filed a bill that would crack down on illegal abortions with harsher penalties for those who have them or force women to have an abortion against their will. The measure is a response to a bill that would legalize abortion in the Hispanic nation.

Green Party Sen. Arturo Escobar introduce a bill in the Mexico Senate last Thursday to try to counteract efforts by lawmakers in other parties to legalize abortion.

Escobar said he doesn’t want the nation to pass the bill filed by members of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which holds the second largest bloc of lawmakers in Congress.

"Mexican society is only prepared to allow abortion when the pregnancy is the result of rape, when the fetus has congenital defects or when the life of the woman is at risk," Escobar told AP.

In fact, polls show a majority of Mexicans oppose abortion and a survey released in March from the polling firm Consulta Mitofsky found only 32.1 percent of those polled said they agreed with abortion.

Breaking the results down by political party, only 30 percent of people who side with the conservative National Action Party (PAN) agree with abortion while just 28.7 percent of those who identify themselves as members of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) back abortion.

President Felipe Calderon, a PAN member, has said he does not favor legalizing abortion and would likely veto a bill to do so.

“I have a personal conviction, and I am in defense of life,” he told a news conference last month. “I have a plain respect for dignity and human life and within this I believe the existing legislation is adequate.”

However, PRD lawmakers in the legislature of Mexico City have also filed a bill there to legalize abortion within the federal district. PRD controls both the legislature and the mayor’s office and that bill is seen as having a much greater chance of passing.

Mexico City currently allows abortions in cases of rape or incest and when the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother while the rest of the nation only allows abortions in cases of sexual abuse.

Related web sites:
Comite Nacional Pro Vida – https://www.comiteprovida.org