Public Opinion on Abortion in Mexico City after the Landmark Reform

Abstract

This article presents findings from three opinion surveys conducted among representative samples of Mexico City residents: the first one immediately prior to the groundbreaking legalization of first-trimester abortion in April 2007, and one and two years after the reform. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess changes in opinion concerning abortion and correlates of favorable opinion following reform. In 2009 a clear majority (74 percent) of respondents were in support of the Mexico City law allowing for elective first-trimester abortion, compared with 63 percent in 2008 and 38 percent in 2007. A significant increase in support for extending the law to the rest of Mexico was found: from 51 percent in 2007 to 70 percent in 2008 and 83 percent in 2009. In 2008 the significant independent correlates of support for the Mexico City law were education, infrequent religious service attendance, sex (being male), and political party affiliation; in 2009 they were education beyond high school, infrequent religious service attendance, and ever having been married.

Women’s opinions on the legalisation of abortion in Chile 2009–2013

“…In the existing literature from Latin America, increased levels of education (Cesar et al 1997;Alves Duarte et al 2002;Becker, Garcia, and Larsen 2002;Palermo et al 2010;Valencia Rodríguez et al 2011;Wilson et al 2011;Morán Faúndes 2013;Faúndes et al 2013;Jelen and Doc Bradley 2014), increasing income or socioeconomic status (SES) (Alves Duarte et al 2002;Garcia et al 2004), paid employment (Duarte Osis et al 1994;Palermo et al 2010) and lack of religious affiliation and/or less frequent religious attendance (Gogna et al 2002;Lisker, Carnevale, and Villa 2006;Silva et al 2009;Palermo et al 2010;Wilson et al 2011;Faúndes et al 2013) are associated with increased support for a woman's right to access abortion. Overall, studies from Latin America indicate that increasing age is associated with increased support for abortion (Gogna et al 2002;Garcia et al 2004;Lisker, Carnevale, and Villa 2006;Faúndes et al 2013), though at least one study has found that individuals over the age of 60 are less supportive ) and another found no association (Jelen and Doc Bradley 2014).…”

Women's experiences of and perspectives on abortion at public facilities in Mexico City three years following decriminalization

“…In the few years since decriminalization, local public opinion supporting the right to safe abortion has increased steadily-from 38% in 2007 to 63% in 2008 and 73% in 2009 [4]. Concurrently, more than 50 000 women have obtained legal abortion care at designated MOH public facilities, with the demand growing each year (from 18 149 abortions over 18 months from April 2007 to December 2008 [5] to 16 475 in 2009 [6] and 16 945 in 2010 [7]).…”

Mexican Women Seeking Safe Abortion Services in San Diego, California

“…The restrictive efforts on the part of the states are aimed largely at preventing state governments from following Mexico City's lead and passing similar legislation. Prochoice advocates have responded with legal challenges to the constitutional amendments (Cuddehe, 2009), as well as with research documenting public opinion in favor of abortion for certain indications (Palermo, Wilson, Garcia, & DiazOlavarrieta, 2010;Wilson et al, 2011). Our findings do not suggest that many Mexican women are able to take advantage of services across the border in the United States, and more efforts are needed to improve access to safe abortion care within Mexico in order to reduce the health risks of unsafe abortion and allow women to exercise their human and reproductive rights.…”