FEDERALISM AND THE POLITICAL AND LEGAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR REFORM AND BACKLASH IN MEXICO?S ABORTION LAW

ALBA RUIBAL

Washington DC

Congreso; Law and Society Association Meeting; 2019

Law and Society Association

In 2007, Mexico City became one of the few Latin American jurisdictions where abortion on demand is legal. The Supreme Court upheld the City´s new abortion law in 2008. The reform triggered a backlash process in eighteen Mexican states, which since 2008 set out to modify their constitutions to include a protection of the right to life from conception. In 2011, the Court also upheld the counter-reforms. This paper analyzes the political and legal process of abortion law reform and counter-reform in Mexico through the assessment of the national-subnational dynamics involved in subnational reforms under federalism. It explains the divergent legislative and judicial results in Mexico by focusing on the intersection of federalism with three main variables: a) the movement?s strength and structure b) the impact of national electoral politics in subnational policy-making; c) the legal opportunity at the Supreme Court, and in particular its rules and doctrines concerning federalism