CASES
Paulina Ramírez v. Mexico (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights)
NEWS
Center Commends Mexico City Decision to Legalize Abortion in First Trimester
April 2007
April 24, 2007 -- Today Mexico City's legislature voted to make abortion legal in the first trimester, a landmark decision in a region where the procedure is highly restricted. This important change should dramatically decrease the number of women who die or suffer complications from unsafe abortions every year in Mexico City. And though it is groundbreaking, the Mexico City vote aligns with recent progress toward abortion liberalization, both in the region and across the globe. "In passing this law, the legislature has recognized the pressing need to address abortion as a public health issue," said Lilian Sepúlveda, the Legal Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Center for Reproductive Rights. "This law should enable a woman to go to her doctor's office and get the treatment that is in her best interest, without the interference of political or personal ideologies."
CEDAW Committee Voices Concerns About Reproductive Rights In Mexico
September, 2006
This month the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in its review of Mexico’s compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, voiced concern about high maternal mortality rates and a lack of access to safe abortion services and contraceptives in Mexico. The Center for Reproductive Rights drew the Committee’s attention to these issues in a shadow letter highlighting the Mexican government’s failure to ensure women’s reproductive health and rights in its laws, policies and practices.
The Center’s letter highlighted the lack of access to family planning and contraceptive methods in Mexico, particularly among low-income women in rural and urban areas and among adolescents. The letter pointed to the barriers that women continue to face in accessing safe abortion, despite the government’s recent recognition—in a settlement agreement in the Center’s case Paulina Ramírez v. Mexico of its duty to ensure the right to access abortion in circumstances where it is legal.
In an advanced unedited version of its Concluding Observations, the Committee indicated that unsafe abortion remains one of the leading causes of maternal death, noting women’s inadequate access to safe abortion services and to the full range of contraceptive methods, including emergency contraception. The Committee recommended that the Mexican government expand the coverage of reproductive health care and family planning services and develop a comprehensive strategy for ensuring effective access to safe abortion and contraceptive methods
The Center is pleased that the Committee raised these important issues in its recommendations, and hopes that the Mexican government will take the Committee’s observations seriously and take immediate steps to implement its recommendations.
An Interview wtih Paulina Ramirez, Client in Center's Landmark Settlement in Mexico
April 2006
The Center interviews Paulina, who is now 20 years old.
Mexico Admits Responsibility for Denying Child Rape Victim's Rights
March 2006
Washington, DC, March 8, the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners in Mexico, Alaide Foppa and GIRE (Information Group on Reproductive Choice), will sign a friendly settlement with the Mexican government in a case brought before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
PUBLICATIONS
Reports
Paulina: Five Years Later
In 2000, the Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE) published the first part of this story, Paulina: In the Name of the Law, followed in 2004 by Paulina: Five Years Later, with assistance from the Center for Reproductive Rights. This report details the significant events in Paulina’s life and in her legal case during the five years since she gave birth.
Read the Mexico chapter from Women of the World: Laws and Policies Affecting Their Reproductive Lives -- Latin America and the Caribbean
Mas allá del derecho. Justicia y género en América Latina
(available in Spanish only). This book is the first publication of the Red Alas network, a Latin American network of law professors that aims to reform legal education in the region from a gender perspective. The Center for Reproductive Rights supports and is a part of this network.
Read the Mexico chapter from 
Bodies on Trial: Reproductive Rights in Latin American Courts
Briefing Papers
Shadow Reports
Organizations like the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners play an essential role in providing credible and reliable independent information to international human rights treaty monitoring bodies regarding the legal status and real-life situation of women and the efforts being made by governments to comply with human rights treaties. Shadow reports work to supplement, or "shadow," governments' reports on human rights issues by calling attention to their strides, as well as their setbacks.
Regional Partner Organizations
