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Decriminalisation of Abortion - Lessons from Mexico City

Johansson, Caroline LU (2010) STVM01 20101
Department of Political Science
Abstract (Swedish)
Latin America has a profound tradition of anti-abortion legislation and a conservative view on women’s sexuality. Most of the countries allow for abortion in extreme cases, such as rape or when there is a risk to the woman’s health, while others still prohibit it under any circumstances. But in 2007, Mexico City decriminalised abortion up until the 12th week of pregnancy. Mexico City thus constitutes a deviant case in relation to all Mexican states and almost all other Latin American countries.
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the reasons for a decriminalisation to come upon in Mexico City and to highlight the issue of women’s rights in Latin America. It seeks to explain why a policy change was possible in the Mexico City case –... (More)
Latin America has a profound tradition of anti-abortion legislation and a conservative view on women’s sexuality. Most of the countries allow for abortion in extreme cases, such as rape or when there is a risk to the woman’s health, while others still prohibit it under any circumstances. But in 2007, Mexico City decriminalised abortion up until the 12th week of pregnancy. Mexico City thus constitutes a deviant case in relation to all Mexican states and almost all other Latin American countries.
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the reasons for a decriminalisation to come upon in Mexico City and to highlight the issue of women’s rights in Latin America. It seeks to explain why a policy change was possible in the Mexico City case – despite various failing attempts elsewhere in the region. The thesis concludes that several different aspects played a fundamental role for the creation of a policy reform, with one of the most important ones being the political context. The role of Mexico City as a precursor to similar changes in other parts of Latin America is further reflected upon with the ambition of securing key explanatory factors for future cases of decriminalisation of abortion. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Johansson, Caroline LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVM01 20101
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
abortion, women’s rights, policy process, Mexico, Latin America
language
English
id
1652958
date added to LUP
2010-09-13 09:33:48
date last changed
2010-09-13 09:33:48
@misc{1652958,
  abstract     = {{Latin America has a profound tradition of anti-abortion legislation and a conservative view on women’s sexuality. Most of the countries allow for abortion in extreme cases, such as rape or when there is a risk to the woman’s health, while others still prohibit it under any circumstances. But in 2007, Mexico City decriminalised abortion up until the 12th week of pregnancy. Mexico City thus constitutes a deviant case in relation to all Mexican states and almost all other Latin American countries.
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the reasons for a decriminalisation to come upon in Mexico City and to highlight the issue of women’s rights in Latin America. It seeks to explain why a policy change was possible in the Mexico City case – despite various failing attempts elsewhere in the region. The thesis concludes that several different aspects played a fundamental role for the creation of a policy reform, with one of the most important ones being the political context. The role of Mexico City as a precursor to similar changes in other parts of Latin America is further reflected upon with the ambition of securing key explanatory factors for future cases of decriminalisation of abortion.}},
  author       = {{Johansson, Caroline}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Decriminalisation of Abortion - Lessons from Mexico City}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}