Mexico City Legalizes Abortion

City leaders defy bitter opposition from government and church
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 25, 2007 7:48 AM CDT
Mexico City Legalizes Abortion
Pro-choice activists in Mexico City   (Associated Press)

Mexico City has passed a law legalizing first-trimester abortions and offering them virtually free. The move by the city's predominantly leftist leadership was bitterly opposed by the Catholic Church and Mexico's conservative government, CNN reports.

Opponents of the bill, including president Felipe Calderon, have already vowed to challenge it in Mexico’s Supreme Court. Like most Latin American countries,  Mexico has strict limits on abortion, allowing it only in cases of rape, severe birth defects or if the woman's life is at risk. Pro-choice activists hope the local decision will be a catalyst for change in the region. (More abortion stories.)

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