Description

Battles over sexual and reproductive health and rights, particularly abortion rights, are occurring around the world. Mexico has witnessed heated political and legal mobilization by both progressive and conservative forces regarding the issue of abortion in recent years. In 2007, Mexico City decriminalized abortion in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. The Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico subsequently upheld that law’s constitutionality, triggering a series of state laws imposing draconian restrictions on abortion. Although abortion in cases of rape had been defined as an “emergency medical service” under federal legislation, women and girls found it difficult in practice to obtain services. In May of this year, the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico issued two important decisions relating to cases of adolescents who had been raped, clarifying that denial of abortions in cases of sexual assault violated both international human rights law and the Mexican Constitution.

This event brought together two sitting justices on the Mexican Supreme Court, Justice Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena and Justice González Alcántara, to discuss the holdings, implications, and context for these recent decisions, as well the Court’s evolving role in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights, and in particular abortion. To situate the discussion, two other panels discussed:

• Challenges in institutional practices as well as laws in relation to advancing abortion rights in different countries in Latin America and the United States; and
• The role of courts in adjudicating highly contested social issues involving private morality that frequently give rise to political and legal counter-mobilization.

Read the 2019 decision of the First Chamber of the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice relating to abortion: “Corte Suprema de Justicia de México [Mexican Supreme Court of Justice], May 15, 2019, “Motion for Constitutional Relief under Amparo Proceedings in Review 1388/2015.”

This event was free and open to the public.

Agenda

8:30 – 9:00am, Registration

9:00 – 9:15am, Welcome and Introductions

• ​I. Glenn Cohen, James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard Law School
• Alicia Ely Yamin, Senior Fellow, Global Health and Rights Project, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard Law School

9:15 – 9:35am, Keynote Address

• Justice González Alcántara, Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, Mexico

9:35 – 9:55am, Keynote Address

• Justice Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena, Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, Mexico

9:55 – 10:15am, Audience Q & A

10:15 – 10:30am, Break

10:30 – 11:25am, Adjudicating Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

• Justice González Alcántara, Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, Mexico
• Justice Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena, Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, Mexico
• Judge András Sajó, retired judge (Vice President) of the European Court of Human Rights; University Professor, Central European University, Budapest; and Visiting Professor of Law, Harvard Law School (Fall 2019)

11:25am – 12:25pm, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Challenging Contexts: Laws, Policies, Practices

• Jocelyn Viterna, Professor of Sociology, Harvard University
• Marlene Fried, Professor of Philosophy and Faculty Director of the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program, Hampshire College
• Cristina Alonso, founding member and President of the Mexican Midwifery Association (2014 to 2017) and founder of the Mexican Network of Midwifery Centers

12:25 – 12:30pm, Closing Remarks

• Alicia Ely Yamin, Senior Fellow, Global Health and Rights Project, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard Law School

Learn More

Blog Posts

• Adriana Ortega Ortiz, “How to understand the Mexican Supreme Court Decision Regarding Abortion Based on Health Risks”
• David García Sarubbi, “The Fundamental Right to Health and Judicial Review in México”
• Patricia del Arenal Urueta, “Amparo en Revisión 1388/2015 and the “Rights” Discourse in Mexico”

Part of the Global Health and Rights Project (GHRP), a collaboration between the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the Global Health Education and Learning Incubator (GHELI) at Harvard University, with support from the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School and the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.