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Mexico City, September 28, 2025
– On the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion, the organization Ipas Latin America and the Caribbean (Ipas LAC), in collaboration with artist and activist Cerrucha, held the public intervention
“My Body, My Life, My Decision.
an artistic and political action to demand the elimination of abortion from criminal laws.The intervention consisted of the projection of testimonial video portraits on mobile screens, which traveled through strategic and emblematic roads and sites in Mexico City to make visible the stories of those who have accompanied, practiced or lived through an abortion in contexts marked by stigma, institutional abandonment and criminalization.
The stories make visible the multiple ways in which the regulation of abortion from criminal laws continues to put at risk the health, life and autonomy of women and people with the possibility of gestation in Mexico.
The testimonies shared during this intervention are not only personal stories, they are urgent calls to transform the conditions under which the right to decide is denied in Mexico. In the voices of health professionals, accompanying persons, women and pregnant women, realities emerge that highlight the human costs of a system that still criminalizes abortion.
Fear of criminalization
is a constant: health personnel and those who accompany abortions live in fear just for doing their job. This fear limits their ability to act freely and professionally.
Stigma persists
The permanent risk of legal prosecution fuels mistrust of health services, to the extent that many vulnerable people decide not to go to hospitals, even in emergencies, for fear of being reported. This criminalization also manifests itself as obstetric violence, affecting the dignity and autonomy of pregnant women.
Inequalities deepen
The most affected by criminalization continue to be girls, adolescents, indigenous women, transgender people, rural women and those living in poverty. The lack of access to safe services perpetuates cycles of abandonment, forced maternity, precariousness and structural violence.
Imposed maternity is also violence
The right to decide whether, when and under what conditions to have children is part of the right to live a life free of violence. Access to legal and safe abortion not only protects health and life, but also allows care, when it occurs, to be a free act and not a condemnation.
Hope lies in change
The new law: completely decriminalizing abortion, as recommended by international organizations such as the WHO, is a necessary step to guarantee effective access to this essential health service. It is to recognize that to decide should not be a privilege, but a guaranteed right for all people.
This intervention calls on the legislators of the Congress of the Union to
eliminate abortion from the Federal Penal Code
This intervention calls on the legislators of the Congress of the Union to eliminate abortion from the Federal Penal Code, and thus comply with the recommendations of the World Health Organization, international human rights treaties and constitutional obligations in terms of equality, health and non-discrimination.Deciding should not be a crime.
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The following is the position of Ipas LAC, which is joined by feminist organizations:
Instituto de Liderazgo Simone de Beauvoir (ILSB) – REDefine, Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE), Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir México, Balance AC – Fondo MARÍA, Luchadoras MX, DDESER, Colectiva ADAS, Michis Aborteros y Amamachas Aborteras, AbortistasMx.
Positioning
“My body, my life, my decision.”
In the framework of the
Global Day of Action for Access to Legal and Safe Abortion
we make visible an urgent demand: for Mexico to move towards the repeal of abortion from criminal laws. Because when the State supports reproductive autonomy, women and others who are able to bear children can make free, informed and safe decisions about their bodies and their lives.
Eighteen years ago, Mexico City marked a turning point by decriminalizing abortion at will up to 12 weeks. This breakthrough made it possible to develop safe health care models, train health personnel and offer dignified services. It also positioned Mexico as a regional and international benchmark. But today we know that this is not enough.
As long as abortion remains in the criminal codes, there will be women and others with gestational potential forced to continue with forced pregnancies. They will continue to face obstacles because they were late to the service, because they did not have access to information or resources, because they do not live in a place with access to health services that are supplied. And all of this happens because the law dictates it.
Official figures also confirm this: the regulation of abortion by criminal law continues to activate processes of denunciation in cases of obstetric emergencies and post-abortion care. Suspicion, judgment and persecution continue to operate on pregnant bodies, especially those who live in situations of poverty, discrimination or violence.
Therefore, based on scientific evidence and the international human rights framework, we support what the World Health Organization has clearly stated:
abortion is an essential health service, which should be available without barriers, without punishment, without stigma.
Restrictive laws do not prevent abortions, they force women to seek options for pregnancy termination outside the health care setting or to continue with unwanted pregnancies.
Today, from the public space, we demand what can wait no longer:
the elimination of the crime of abortion from criminal laws.
No justice is possible as long as a deeply personal, intimate and legitimate decision continues to be criminalized.
Because deciding is not a crime.
Because abortion should not be a sentence.
Because reproductive autonomy is a right, not a concession.
We raise our voices, because
our bodies, our lives and our decisions do not belong to the State.
They belong to those who live, inhabit and defend them. Let us continue resisting and demanding from hope.
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This position is supported by:
Ipas Latin America and the Caribbean (Ipas LAC), Cerrucha, Instituto de Liderazgo Simone de Beauvoir (ILSB) – REDefine, Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE), Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir México, Balance AC – Fondo MARÍA, Luchadoras MX, DDESER, Colectiva ADAS, Abortistas Mx, Michis Aborteros and Amamachas Aborteras.