Abortion Banned by Controversial Veracruz State Governor Javier Duarte David Agren - The Guardian
go to original July 29, 2016

The six-year term of Veracruz state governor Javier Duarte has been marked by controversy. (Roger López/The Guardian)

A controversial Mexican state governor has pushed through a draconian anti-abortion bill as his term comes to a close. Lawmakers in Veracruz state approved a constitutional amendment on Thursday to “protect life from conception” – effectively outlawing abortion in all circumstances.

“I congratulate legislators of the Veracruz legislature for saying yes to life,” Governor Javier Duarte tweeted after the vote.

Abortion laws have been liberalised in Mexico City – and upheld by the supreme court in 2008 – but at least 18 states have subsequently approved laws or constitutional amendments outlawing the procedure.

Veracruz’s ban will become effective after a majority of the state municipalities approve the measure – likely to be a formality as most are controlled by Duarte’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Duarte has cut a controversial course throughout his six-year term as governor of Veracruz, on Mexico’s Gulf Coast, attracting accusations of thuggery, misappropriating public money and showing a crushing indifference to the murders of at least 19 journalists. Press freedom organisation the Committee to Protect Journalists has called Veracruz “the most lethal place for the press in the western hemisphere”.

Read the rest at The Guardian

Related: Prosecutors Investigate Infamous Mexican Governor Javier Duarte (teleSUR)

Related: Outgoing Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte Accused of Corruption Discloses Assets (EFE)

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