Iván Evair Saldaña
La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, December 16, 2025, p. 4
The plenary session of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) will discuss on January 6 the project of Minister Irving Espinosa Betanzo, which proposes, through two actions of unconstitutionality, to invalidate a reform of Aguascalientes that reduced the maximum period to be able to abort from 12 to six weeks, considering that it is a regressive measure.
“Something must be said, abortion has already been decriminalized in Mexico since 2023,” the speaker recalled this Monday in a meeting with the press at the headquarters of the Court.
The minister’s statement responded to the criticism of the project made last Sunday by the Primate Archdiocese of Mexico, in its editorial From Faithin which he accused the country’s highest court of incurring a “contempt for human life,” as he noted that it seeks the “total decriminalization” of the legal interruption of pregnancy, without a gestation limit.
In his argument, the man affirms that the partial decriminalization of abortion has not eliminated criminalization, since criminal investigations persist, so only total decriminalization would allow it to be regulated as a health issue, guarantee the corresponding right and mark a milestone in reproductive justice in Mexico. However, this is not included in the effects of the eventual sentence.
The debate derives from two unconstitutionality actions promoted by the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) and the Presidency of the Republic against the reform of September 23, 2024 to the Penal Code for the state of Aguascalientes, which reduced said period.
▲ Ministers Yasmín Esquivel Mossa and María Estela Ríos exchange positions during one of the last sessions of the Supreme Court in 2025.Photo Cristina Rodríguez
“As in any other project, it will be submitted to the plenary for consideration,” Espinosa said.
At the event, Minister Loretta Ortiz pointed out that, although she cannot advance her position so as not to be prevented from participating in the resolution of the matter, she recalled that there is already jurisprudence of the Court that supports the 12-week period, a criterion that many states in the country still fail to comply with.
“Scientifically, there is a difference of 12 to six weeks. When 12 weeks are reached, it is the exact point when the cerebral cortex begins to form; before we had a zygote. So, that is why 12 weeks was set in the jurisprudence that we have as mandatory,” he explained.
In this regard, Minister Giovanni Figueroa Mejía acknowledged that it is “a topic, as Colombians say, that is difficult, complicated, and that has to do with issues closely related to bioethics.”
“We have to assess the constitutionality or not of those regulations that have to do with abortion within each federal entity,” he added.
