Mexico City lawmakers vote to legalize abortion

Leftist mayor expected to sign legislation in rebuke of Vatican efforts. Nice language: "Leftist".

MEXICO CITY - Mexico City lawmakers voted to legalize abortion Tuesday, a decision likely to influence policies and health practices across Mexico and other parts of heavily Roman Catholic Latin America.

The proposal, approved 46-19, with one abstention, will take effect with the expected signing by the city’s leftist mayor. Abortion opponents have already vowed to appeal the law to the Supreme Court, a move likely to extend the bitter and emotional debate in this predominantly Catholic nation.

“Decriminalizing abortion is a historic triumph, a triumph of the left,” said city legislator Jorge Diaz Cuervo, a leftist social democrat who voted for the bill. “Today, there is a new atmosphere in this city. It is the atmosphere of freedom.”

Nationally, Mexico allows abortion only in cases of rape, severe birth defects or if the woman’s life is at risk. Doctors sometimes refuse to perform the procedure even under those circumstances. Um, back up a minute here. Doctors can refuse to treat their PATIENTS??? The women who may be dying??? If you can't do your job find anotha, muthafucka.

The procedure will be almost free for poor or uninsured city residents.

“I feel happy, because this is a step forward, not backward, for a woman’s right and freedom to choose ... about her body and her life,” said demonstrator Gabriela Cruz, 36.

But with good, always comes the bad: Under the Mexico City law, women having an abortion after 12 weeks face punishment of three to six months in jail. Those performing abortions after that period would face one to three years in jail.

Most women don't even know they are pregnant until at least the 8th week. So let's again punish women for becoming pregnany by not only focring them to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, but to incarcerate them as well. Because how dare she decide if she wants to be a mother? That's the government's job. The politicians, the lobbyists, and lest we forget: The Vatican. That's their job. To control their wimmins.

In a broader scope, the only countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with legalized abortion for all women are Cuba and Guyana. Most others allow it only in cases of rape or when the woman’s life is at risk. Nicaragua, El Salvador and Chile ban it completely. Meaning, die bitches. Your unborn fetus has more rights to life then even your own.

An estimated 200,000 women have illegal abortions each year in Mexico, based on the number who show up at hospitals later seeking treatment for complications, said Martha Micher, director of the Mexico City government’s Women’s Institute.

Botched abortions using herbal remedies, black-market medications and quasi-medical procedures kill about 1,500 women each year and are the third-leading cause of death for pregnant women in the capital, Micher said.

These numbers mean nothing to these politicians. These numbers are a wake-up call that criminalizing abortion does not eliminate it--it drives it underground where it becomes unsafe and potentially fatal.

Globally, 70,000 women die annually from illegal abortions. All preventable.