The move “represents a major victory for women in Mexico in their decades-long struggle for their bodily autonomy and their sexual and reproductive health and rights,” high commissioner for human rights Volker Turk said in a statement issued yesterday.

Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday “that the legal system that penalises abortion in the Federal Penal Code is unconstitutional, as it violates the human rights of women and people with the capacity to bear children.”

The ruling allows people access to abortions in federal health institutions and warns that medical personnel cannot be prosecuted for providing the service.

In 2021, the same court ruled that criminalising abortion was unconstitutional, paving the way for Wednesday’s ruling.

The UN rights chief also called on Mexico to implement the ruling swiftly.

“I call on Mexico’s Congress to take immediate steps to enact the necessary legislation to expunge abortion from the Federal penal code, and for state legislatures where abortion remains criminalised to promptly follow suit,” he said.

The decriminalisation is a landmark decision in Mexico, where more than 80% of the country’s 130 million residents are Catholic. The Church has previously objected to abortion reforms.

The ruling came in response to a petition by the feminist Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE).

In Latin America, elective abortion is legal in Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, and Uruguay.

In several nations, it is allowed in certain circumstances, such as rape or health risks, while outright bans apply in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.

In the US, the Supreme Court last year overturned the landmark 1973 “Roe v. Wade” decision that had guaranteed the right to abortion nationwide.