Sept. 4 –Christian Newswire – Dismissing a suit by opponents – including the attorney general of Mexico and the president of the National Human Rights Commission – Mexico’s Supreme Court upheld a 2007 abortion law for the Federal District that includes Mexico City.

Under the law (passed by the Federal District’s Legislative Assembly), the city’s health services is required to provide free abortions through the 12th week of gestation. To date, 12,000 abortions have been performed under the law, about one-fifth of them on non-residents.

Eight of 11 justices upheld the law, despite a provision in Mexico’s Constitution guaranteeing a right to life from fertilization onward. The justices also ignored opinion surveys which showed 65% of Mexicans oppose the legalization of abortion.

Larry Jacobs, Managing Director of the World Congress of Families, noted the tragedy and the irony of the decision. "In Roe v. Wade, in 1973, the United States Supreme Court read a right to abortion into our Constitution. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Mexican Supreme Court condoned the Federal District’s legalization of abortion notwithstanding a specific provision in that nation’s constitution calling on government to protect life from the moment of conception."