Mexico’s supreme court has decriminalised abortion for the entire country. Its supreme court has declared that refusing to provide terminations violates the human rights of women.

“In cases of rape, no girl can be forced to become a mother – neither by the state nor by her parents nor her guardians,” said the head of the supreme court, Arturo Zaldívar. “Here, the violation of her rights is more serious, not only because of her status as a victim, but also because of her age, which makes it necessary to analyse the issue from the perspective of the best interests of minors.”

With decriminalisation, the next step will be for the federal healthcare system to provide abortions.

The BBC says that: “The new ruling is likely to anger Mexico’s more conservative politicians and the Catholic Church, in what is Latin America’s second largest Catholic nation. However, the Church’s influence has been declining in recent years and the country’s government considers itself staunchly secular.”

Elective abortion is currently legal in Colombia, Cuba, Uruguay and Argentina. Some countries allow abortions after rape of if the mother’s health is at risk. But abortion is banned completely in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Access in abortion in Mexico affects the United States. Mexico could become a safe haven for abortion if it is illegal across the border.