Puebla, Mexico, May 6, 2025 /
17:11 pm
Thousands of people participated in the March for Life on May 3 in Mexico City to mark 18 years since abortion was decriminalized in Mexico’s capital.
The march, organized by the Pasos por la Vida (Steps for Life) association along with other groups, set out from the Monument to the Revolution and followed a route of more than 1.2 miles to arrive at the City Congress, the legislative branch of Mexico City, a quasi state in the Mexican federal system.
Young people, senior citizens, and entire families marched amid banners and signs with pro-life messages lamenting the lack of comprehensive policies to aid pregnant women. They also decried the terrible toll of almost two decades of legalized abortion.
Since April 2007, abortion has been legal in Mexico City up to the 12th week of pregnancy, making it the first federal entity in the country to adopt this measure. Since then, 22 other states have decriminalized abortion, with notable momentum during the six-year term of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018–2024), of the MORENA (National Regeneration Movement) political party.
Currently, President Claudia Sheinbaum, also of MORENA, continues to promote this same policy.
According to data from the Steps for Life organization, the cumulative effect of these new laws has resulted in “more than 292,000 Mexican lives never seeing the light of day.”
‘Abortion hasn’t solved anything’
During the rally held in front of the City Congress, a manifesto was read pointing out that “abortion hasn’t solved anything.”
Pilar Rebollo, outgoing leader of Steps for Life, warned that decriminalization, far from solving problems, has inflicted “a great many wounds, revictimized pregnant women, and deprived Mexico of an entire generation.”
In her speech, she also denounced the “manipulation of figures that renders both aborted children and wounded mothers invisible” in addition to criticizing “the lack of comprehensive policies that truly support women” and “the imposition of an agenda that turns death into a right and marginalizes the [child in the womb] because he doesn’t produce anything, profiting from the most vulnerable.”
“And meanwhile, Mexico bleeds,” she lamented.
“Today we remember the missing generation and embrace every mother who has suffered in silence. But we also proclaim with hope that every heart that beats is a promise, and every step taken today can change history,” Rebollo said.
Six demands to promote life
Also speaking during the event was Luisa Argueta, the march’s national coordinator, who presented a series of demands addressing different areas.
She demanded politicians pass “a constitutional reform that recognizes the right to life from conception to natural death” as well as public policies that allocate funding “to motherhood, adoption, and palliative care, not death-dealing solutions.”
The pro-life leader also called for the reinstatement of public reporting on abortion in Mexico City and emphasized the need for each state to publish “real and verifiable figures on abortions, homicides, and disappeared persons [missing and likely dead].”
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
She also called for “respect and protection for conscientious objection for medical personnel, who save lives.”
Argueta also addressed society, urging it to abandon “the archaic idea” that motherhood is solely a woman’s responsibility, and emphasized that “men and women need each other to make decisions and take responsibility.”
Finally, she called for “active citizen participation,” which means “we should support, donate, adopt, monitor, and vote for life.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Diego López Colín is a graduate of the Carlos Septién García School of Journalism (Mexico). He has been a correspondent for ACI Prensa in Mexico since 2023.
