In the early morning of October 26, 2022, the inhabitants of the city of Quintana Roo woke up to the news that abortion had been decriminalized up to 12 weeks of gestation, the vote in the local Congress was 10 votes in favor and 3 against; becoming the eleventh state in the country to allow Legal Interruption of Pregnancy (ILE). The approved initiative reformed articles 92, 93, 94, 95 and 97, in sections II, III and IV; a second and third paragraph was added to article 92; and article 96, all of the Penal Code of Quintana Roo, was repealed.
Now, article 92 establishes that abortion is the interruption of pregnancy “after the 12th week of gestation” and that “pregnant person” is understood to be any person with a female reproductive system and the capacity to become pregnant, regardless of age. physical appearance or sexual orientation.
The modified article 93 indicates that anyone who procures an abortion or consents to someone else provoking one after 12 weeks will be penalized with prison; Article 94 defines forced abortion as the interruption of pregnancy at any time, without the consent of the pregnant person and is punishable by imprisonment. Article 95 indicates that, if the abortion is forced by a doctor, midwife or nurse, they will also be suspended from their profession for two to five years. However, one year after the decriminalization of abortion, activists and companions believe that there is no guaranteed access to abortion.
Before the decriminalization of abortion in Quintana Roo, it was known that there were three hospitals that offered safe abortion: Hospital General de Playa del Carmen, Hospital Integral de Isla Mujeres and Hospital Materno Infantil Morelos. The Gender and Violence Coordinator of the Ministry of Health, Margery Sugey, pointed out that since 2021 they have been working on safe abortion: “we had IPAS training because the national center asked us to start these indistinct processes before it was legalized in the state. ”. But, for the majority of the activists and groups interviewed, the Safe Abortion program in Quintana Roo was nothing more than simulation, it did not translate into real access.
Psychologist Cristina Montejo, from the Ajal Yaakun Collective and director of the safe abortion services in places like Playa del Carmen and Isla Mujeres, the truth is that it is not being practiced.”
Silvia Chuc, from the Gobernanza town, explained: “before, at the state level, there were three safe abortion modules that had a protocol and whose guidelines were established by the federal institutions and the corresponding instances. We already knew that there was a module that had people prepared at the Playa del Carmen hospital, the thing is that it was never publicized. The state government did not want to make public that there was a space where women could go and have a safe abortion, not even in cases of rape, that is, the application of NOM 046 was already a problem before.”
Margery Sugey said the budget for this year’s abortion program was withdrawn, although trained staff remain and their goal is to train more staff. “From the Gender and Violence Coordination of the Ministry of Health we are waiting to know how to make a diagnosis, what type of personnel we need, how to strengthen the personnel so that the service can be provided, we are starting, and we have found a very good response from hospitals, because due to competition and regulations, it is up to the health sector to care for women who require an abortion.”
Regarding the training of medical personnel, Vanessa González, from DAS Cancún, commented: “this year we gave training to doctors, nurses, health personnel from the city of Cancún, as well as from Solidaridad, and we realized that a large majority of the Health employees are afraid, that is, in addition to their own conceptions, let’s say philosophical and moral, it is difficult for them to perform an abortion. Furthermore, they are afraid of receiving some type of administrative penalty for having provided a service of this type.
“For those who are in the decision-making and senior management positions – directors of medical units to hospital coordinators – the issue is conscientious objection, since health employees use it to avoid performing an abortion, and they are in their right, but we must guarantee that in every unit there are personnel in favor of abortion,” he explained.
On this issue, Margery assured that “although there are conscientious objectors, we have personnel who are not objectors, and our objective is also to train general practitioners who provide this service.” Furthermore, to avoid refusals and obstacles in the service, they centralized attention through an email ([email protected]), asking the user to communicate by that means and mention what service they require. If you know how many weeks she is, what municipality she is from and a telephone number to contact her.
“When that email arrives, we refer it to the hospital so that care can be provided. We send the data and through the social worker or psychologist, they communicate with the user to make an appointment. “That is the methodology we have adopted so that women do not feel that there is a denial of service.”
The new proposal of the State Health Services (Sesa) to avoid the interaction of users with objecting personnel or to ensure access, was questioned by groups considering that it does not respect the management of personal data and generates bureaucracy in the service.
Health Workers Ignore NOM 046
Margery Sugey explained that in rape cases doctors follow NOM 046, but this year they have not had any interruptions due to rape, only voluntary interruptions.
In this regard, Yunitzilim, from Marea Verde, Quintana Roo, commented: “the experience with NOM 046 is that they do not respect it, because they continue to force users to file a criminal complaint, and they deny the service and even continue to question the weeks in those where interruption may occur.”
Cristina Montejo recalled: “I have had cases where women arrive, not even in the context of voluntary abortion, they arrive for some reason, due to sexual violence and it is assumed that there should be no problem due to NOM 046 and, even so, they are They have denied service. In the town of José María Morelos I also know of two similar cases, and this occurs throughout the state. It seems to me that there has been no political will regarding the application of NOM 046.”
The Gender and Violence Coordinator Margery Sugey stated that since the decriminalization of abortion they have a record of 10 legal abortions performed in hospitals.
The figure provided by the health sector contrasts with the care offered by organizations to women in the southern part of the state. Yunitzilim, from the Marea Verde Collective, indicated: “I am not an escort, but they have me as a reference to channel, and per day, on average, I usually receive messages from two women. And it is not necessarily resolved that day, or there is no certainty as to whether or not they decide to continue with the support, but at least I can say that they have the confidence to write to me when they are considering an abortion.”
Paola Porras, from the same group, is one of the companions who is in charge of following up on those first contacts. “This year I estimate that we have attended to 150 abortions, either providing medication or just accompaniment, because this way they feel safer. The ages of the women who seek us usually range between 20 and 27 years old and from there the figures vary, we have had girls from 17 to 43 years old.”
Cecilia Balam has been a companion for six years, she does not do it full time, and since decriminalization she has cared for 15 women, from the town of Othón P. Blanco and nearby places like Bacalar.
The State Health Services identify the north of Quintana Roo as the region with the most abortion requests, highlighting the municipalities of Benito Juárez and Solidaridad that register the majority of legal abortions (10 in total).
In the opinion of Vanesa González, from the DAS organization in Cancún, “decriminalization did not dramatically alter the number of accompaniment we provide, it remains quite the same. That with decriminalization thousands were going to go out and have abortions, the truth is that it is just a fantasy of anti-rights people. The reality is that women prefer not to abort, that is, they do not get pregnant on purpose to have an abortion. The number of abortions that we usually monitor is on average 100 per month throughout the state. Clarifying that we do not have great dissemination about it.”
Silvia Chuc explained the importance of modifying the Health Law to guarantee safe access to abortion. “Our job has been to promote it, work on the initiative and lobby with some deputies. However, even though the local Congress changed the Penal Code, not everyone is in favor.”
Almost a year after the decriminalization of abortion in this entity, the groups perceive less fear when a woman writes to them to ask about abortion, but it is not enough, they indicated that there is a lack of public policies on the part of the Ministry of Health that favor abortion. access to abortion.
This report was produced with the support of the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) as part of its Reproductive Rights, Health and Justice in the Americas initiative.
2023-11-13 21:42:11
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