Twelve years after abortion decriminalization in Mexico City: Can we still remain an island of liberties?

Publication date: Available online 1 August 2019Source: Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & GynaecologyAuthor(s): Claudia Díaz Olavarrieta, Leticia Bonifaz Alfonzo, Patricio Sanhueza-Smith, Germán E. Fajardo Dolci, Rosalinda Guevara-Guzmán, Mónica Beatriz Aburto-Arciniega, Vivian J. Phillips, Angélica Arce Cedeño, Antonio R. VillaAbstractLatin America hosts the most restrictive abortion legislation globally. In 2007, Mexico, the second largest Catholic country in the world, decriminalized elective abortion within the first twelve weeks of pregnancy in the capital: Mexico City (also known as Federal District of Mexico). Following the reform, the Mexico City Ministry of Health (MX-MOH) implemented safe and legal services. Free services are provided to Mexico City residents and a sliding fee of up to $100 USD is applied to women from other Mexican states. Conscientious objection (CO) was addressed and included in service provision guidelines. Since 2007, 18 of 32 states amended their penal codes to restrict abortion. The road towards increasing access to abortion services at the MX-MOH included a shift from dilation and curettage (D&C) to medical abortion (MA), first with the misoprostol-alone regimen and after the combined mifepristone-misoprostol regimen. Manual vacuum aspiration is offered to out-of-state-women or to those beyond the gestational age where MA is less effective. Contraceptive uptake among abortion seekers is high (up to 95% of them leave with a...
Source: Best Practice and Research Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology - Category: OBGYN Source Type: research