Future of Mexican Women's Rights Unclear

by Diego Cevallos

A practicing Roman Catholic and follower of Mexico's Virgin of Guadalupe, Fox has said that, as president, he would not impose conservative ideas or laws, but his opponents stress that some PAN activists may lead him in that direction.

Though it was founded by conservative Catholics and has been branded as right-wing by political analysts, the PAN has yet to establish its position on the political spectrum, or its stance on issues like abortion.

Fox, who observers say is a pragmatic businessman, defines his party as center-left, but some of his fellow PAN members say it belongs in the center, others indicate it lies more to the right, and still others reject any labels at all.

The PAN embodies political humanism, and speaking of left or right is "an antiquated geography," insisted the party's secretary-general, Jorge Ocejo.

Earlier this month, with the blessing of the Catholic Church, PAN legislators in the state of Guanajuato (where Fox served as governor until 1999) passed a law to criminalize abortion even in cases where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. The law's passage sparked anger among women's organizations throughout the country.

Though the president-elect, who is to take office Dec. 1, declared that he does not agree with the actions of his Guanajuato colleagues, he said he would not intervene because it is an issue that falls under state jurisdiction.

Until the Guanajuato legislature voted in favor of the new law, abortion was legally permitted in cases of rape in all 32 Mexican states.

In 11 states, abortion is legal if the mother's life is in danger, while eight permit the procedure if there is proof that the fetus suffers major deformities. In all other cases, abortion, which is the fourth leading cause of death among Mexican women, is considered a crime.

In answer to the Guanajuato lawmakers, the Mexico City government -- in the hands of the center-left Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) -- presented a bill that would uphold legal abortions in the case of rape, and adds the exceptions of severe birth defects and if the pregnancy endangers the mother's life.

The bill could be approved within a week, reported Mart’ Batres, head of the PRD lawmakers in the capital's Legislative Assembly.

But the Catholic Church and the conservative anti-abortion group Pro Vida warned that they would block the bill's passage at any cost. They urged the rest of Mexico's states to adopt the legislative line of the PAN in Guanajuato.

In several states and municipalities governed by the PAN, the authorities in recent years have adopted measures such as prohibiting public employees from wearing miniskirts and banning billboards advertising undergarments.

They have also censored art exhibits for being immoral, prohibited homosexuals from organizing public parades and banned shows involving nude women.

"Right-wing terrorist groups are reappearing on the national scene and the PAN's fundamentalist wing believes the time has come for revenge, and is encouraged by the Catholic Church hierarchy," said Humberto Musacchio, a columnist for Reforma newspaper.

In the legislature of Coahuila State in northern Mexico, PAN lawmakers proposed an abortion law similar to the one in Guanajuato. Also in Coahuila, a doctor who is a PAN activist recently distributed a flier titled "Masturbation Is Genocide."

Meanwhile, the cultural officials in the city of Guadalajara, also governed by the PAN, tried earlier this month, unsuccessfully, to censor an exhibition of drawings because they considered some of the works "erotic."

Just when the scandal arising from the censorship attempt had begun to dissipate, two young Catholics destroyed one of the works of the exhibit because it depicted Juan Diego -- the indigenous man who is said to have seen the Virgin of Guadalupe more than 400 years ago -- holding the image of a nude Marilyn Monroe.

The Church justified the boys' act, saying the drawing offended the beliefs of Catholics.

In response to the uproar created by the actions of individual PAN supporters, the president-elect's advisers have promised that the future Fox government will be morally tolerant and will not impose socially-restrictive laws on anyone.