Mexican Abortion Research Paper

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Mnany States in Mexico Crack Down on Abortion Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times Yolanda Martínez, one of eight women imprisoned on homicide charges in Guanajuato, Mexico, talked with reporters after she was freed this month. GUANAJUATO, Mexico — The woman came into the hospital, bleeding, scared and barely out of her teens. But before anyone would treat her, the authorities had to be called. In Guanajuato, Maria Márquez awaited the release of her daughter, one of eight women held. Doctors believed that she had had an illegal abortion, so first, a man from the prosecutor’s office had to arrive and ask her about her sexual history. Then, after she was treated but still groggy from the anesthesia, another investigator showed up and took her statement. The…show more content…
State prosecutors here in Guanajuato have opened 166 investigations for abortion in 10 years, according to women’s health advocates. Most of them do not reach a judge, but nine women have been convicted for having abortions. They were sentenced to jail, but paid a bond to finish their sentences on parole. In states where antiabortion laws are strictly enforced, there can also be a fine line between charging a woman with abortion and sentencing her for killing a newborn. In the gulf state of Veracruz, the state women’s institute found this year that eight women serving sentences for homicide — killing their babies after they had been born alive — had either had abortions, which has a much lighter penalty, or had miscarriages or stillbirths. They have since been released, according to the institute’s departing

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