Mexico's top court upholds abortion law

By Michael O'Boyle

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a law allowing abortion in the capital, handing a victory to leftist city lawmakers over conservative President Felipe Calderon's government and the Catholic Church.

In an 8-3 vote, judges said there were no grounds to overturn a law approved in 2007 by the Mexico City assembly that legalized abortions on demand during the first trimester and established free public clinics.

The landmark decision could open the door for other states in Mexico to follow the capital's lead in relaxing laws that criminalize abortion, legal experts said.

The court's ruling was embraced by women's rights advocates, who have campaigned for decades to legalize abortion the world's second most-populous Catholic country.

"This is a triumph of the recognition of women's fundamental rights," said Maria Luisa Sanchez, director of abortion rights advocacy group GIRE. "It will surely establish a precedent for Mexico, for the other states and for the region of Latin America."

As the decision became known, the bells of the cathedral in the capital's historic Zocalo square pealed in mourning.

"This decision could be legal or criminal, but it can never be moral," Mexico's top Catholic churchman, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, said in a statement. "No court can contradict the supreme law of God that orders us: thou shalt not kill."

Church leaders initially threatened to excommunicate city officials who sponsored the law.

The court's ruling was a political boost for leftist Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, who is grooming himself for a possible presidential bid in 2012.

Ebrard has supported a series of measures that have angered church leaders, including gay civil unions and a statute allowing the terminally ill to refuse treatment.

In their ruling, the judges found that Mexico's constitution did not explicitly guarantee the right to life of the fetus, and that the interests of the unborn had to be balanced with those of women seeking an abortion.

While Calderon stayed largely on the sidelines of the battle, his attorney-general and the National Human Rights Commission sought to reintroduce a ban on abortion.

Last month, a congressional committee in Brazil voted down a bill that would have legalized abortion in the world's most populous Catholic country. The leftist administration in Ecuador is attempting to pass a new constitution that church leaders claims could pave the way toward legalizing abortion.

(Editing by Alan Elsner)