Pro-life groups warn that Mexican Supreme Court seeks to legalize abortion across the nation

One pro-life leader warned the courtʼs ruling could leave “the human being in the mother’s womb without any form of protection.”

Pro-life organizations in Mexico are warning that a draft ruling set to be debated by a full session of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN, by its Spanish acronym) seeks to move toward the “total decriminalization” of abortion.

According to these groups, such a move would eliminate legal protections for the unborn in Mexico and open the door to abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy.

On May 28, the SCJN is scheduled to debate the draft ruling regarding Constitutional Challenge 172/2024, authored by Supreme Court Justice-Rapporteur Irving Espinosa Betanzo.

The proposal posits that “removing abortion from penal codes is fundamental to precluding criminal proceedings and eradicating both social criminalization and that which occurs within healthcare services.”

The constitutional challenge, filed in 2024 by the federal executive branch and the National Human Rights Commission, seeks to invalidate articles of the Aguascalientes State Law for the Protection of Life, which establishes that “from the moment an individual is conceived, he/she falls under the protection of the present law.”

The challenge also seeks to invalidate articles of the penal code of the state of Aguascalientes, which reduce the time frame for abortion on demand from 12 to six weeks of gestation.

Citing the feminist nongovernmental organization Group for Information on Elective Reproduction (GIRE, by its Spanish acronym), which promotes the abortion agenda in Mexico, the draft ruling states that “the only way to eliminate criminalization is through total decriminalization, whereby abortion would be regulated solely within the realm of public health.”

GIRE is regarded by the U.S. abortion provider Planned Parenthood as one of its “allies and partners,” which “we are proud to stand with … for sexual and reproductive health and rights,” it said.

According to the proposal presented by Espinosa, “achieving the full decriminalization of abortion in Mexico would be a historic milestone that marks a turning point in the fight for reproductive justice.”

In a May 27 interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Uriel Esqueda, leader of campaigns for the Actívate (Get Active) platform, noted that “what this Aguascalientes case seeks to do is completely strip away even the slightest protection for the human being in the womb,” thereby setting a “precedent” that would subsequently be replicated in other states to liberalize access to abortion.

“At the end of the day, by repealing the criminalization of abortion, you open the door to allowing abortion at any stage of pregnancy,” he pointed out.

The pro-life organization Red Familia (Family Network) warned that the constitutional challenge would “increasingly narrow the scope of legislative discretion available to the states.”

“Although it does not formally establish a single time limit for abortion across Mexico,” the group said, “it’s a push toward a uniform national model constructed upon judicial criteria rather than democratic deliberation [going through the legislative process]; in doing so, it risks a direct confrontation with governors and legislators.”

“We are deeply concerned that this draft ruling not only invalidates in a practically comprehensive manner the regulations democratically approved by the Aguascalientes Congress but also moves toward a logic of structural decriminalization of abortion in Mexico by maintaining that the very use of criminal law to protect life in gestation would be contrary to the democratic rule of law,” said Laura Hernández, director of public affairs for Red Familia, in a press release to ACI Prensa.

Rodrigo Iván Cortes, president of the National Front for the Family, stated in a video message that “the Supreme Court intends to commit a supreme injustice this week, as they plan to vote on a proposal to remove the crime of abortion [from the statutes of] Aguascalientes,” thereby permitting the practice throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy and doing so “with repercussions that could extend across the entire republic.”

“Mexico does not need more death; we have enough already with the hundreds of thousands of people murdered by organized crime, without the Supreme Court now seeking to legalize the death of the most innocent [human beings],” he stated.

‘Activist judges’

Esqueda charged that “today, in the [Supreme] Court, we do not have impartial judges; we have activists who answer to ideological agendas and minority interest groups.”

He further criticized the Supreme Court justices, stating that “today, they feel they’re legislators and that they’re above the states.”

Following judicial reform in 2024, justices of the SCJN are elected by popular vote. The current members took office on Sept. 1, 2025, and will serve terms ranging from eight to 11 years.

The leader of campaigns for Actívate lamented that, although the change in the court’s composition came with promises to “protect Mexicans,” the justices could this Thursday leave “the human being in the mother’s womb without any form of protection. So these Mexicans are second-class citizens? They don’t matter?”

Esqueda urged people to join the campaign launched by Actívate, which has gathered more than 2,400 signatures demanding that the justices not approve the draft ruling proposed by Espinosa, and encouraging Mexicans “not to remain indifferent.”

“Today, a group of justices feel they own the country, and we cannot allow that,” he stated.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.