Guadalajara, Mexico, Jun 24, 2009 / 11:49 am
The governor of the Mexican state of Jalisco, Emilio Gonzalez Marquez, has filed an appeal with the country’s Supreme Court challenging the new Official Mexican Norm, which was published on April 16 and obliges public hospitals to provide abortions in cases of rape. If the appeal is successful, Jalisco would not be forced to implement the norm.
According to the newspaper Reforma, the constitutional challenge was filed on June 15. It must be addressed within 30 days.
“If the court decides by a majority of eight votes that the norm is unconstitutional, Jalisco will be exempt from the obligation to implement it,” the newspaper reported. It said this was the first time a state has filed a constitutional challenge against the application of a health care norm.
The newspaper also reported that in early June a group of doctors from various hospitals in fourteen Mexican states signed a petition against the norm, arguing that criminal investigations to determine whether or not a woman was raped or assaulted should be left in the hands of law enforcement, rather than hospitals, as the new norm stipulates.
In Mexico City, some 40 clinics and private practice doctors have signed briefs challenging the norm.
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