A huge crowd of approximately 25,000 pro-lifers marched through Mexico City on Saturday to urge city lawmakers to protect unborn babies by banning abortions again.
The Mexico capital legalized first-trimester abortions in 2007 under the Marcelo Law, and March for Life leaders said more than 1 million unborn babies have been aborted since then, according to ACI Prensa, the Spanish sister outlet of the Catholic News Agency,
“This legislation has caused more than a million abortions in Mexico, since the official figures from health centers in Mexico City must be added [to] those performed in private clinics,” the pro-life organization Steps for Life said in a statement.
Many of the marchers carried light blue flags or wore blue clothing, a symbol of life in the pro-life movement in Central and South America.
Jahel Torres Ramírez, spokeswoman for the Mexico City March for Life, said the marchers stopped at the Memory and Tolerance Museum where pro-life leaders placed a wreath in memory of the unborn babies who have been killed and women who have been subjected to violence under the abortion law, according to the report.
Speaking outside the Mexico City Congress, Torres Ramírez urged city lawmakers to “respect the binding international treaties to which Mexico is a party, and promote the culture of life, the culture of an authentic defense of women for a better development of our country.”
“This Mexico of women, this Mexico of life, this Mexico of opportunities, is the Mexico that we are building this day and that we are committed to defending and spreading because Mexico loves life!” she said.
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The pro-life rallies was peaceful, as is typical. In contrast, pro-abortion protests in Mexico frequently turn violent with vandalism, fires, threats and other crimes. Roman Catholic churches especially have been targets of pro-abortion violence in recent years.
Most state and local governments still protect unborn babies’ right to life, but international powers are pressuring Mexico lawmakers to legalize abortion on demand. Currently, seven states and Mexico City allow abortions in the first trimester, but a ruling by the national Supreme Court in 2021 that decriminalized abortion emboldened abortion activists to push for more pro-abortion laws.
In 2021, the federal legislature postponed voting on a bill to legalize abortions throughout Mexico, but pro-life advocates expect lawmakers will resurrect it.
Still, support for life is strong in the country. Last October, approximately 1 million pro-lifers marched across Mexico, calling for an end to abortion and respect for all life. The Catholic News Agency reports about 200,000 people participated in Mexico City alone, and hundreds of thousands more joined pro-life rallies Oct. 8 and 9 in all 30 states.
