Questions and Myths About Abortion

Last updated: April 30, 2026.

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Around the world, doubts and myths surrounding abortion hinder its recognition, respect, and
guaranteed status as part of the right to health.[1] This also makes it more difficult to ensure
effective access to information on the subject and to safe, public, high-quality, non-
discriminatory services.

Additionally, misinformation affects how abortion is discussed socially and undermines its
recognition as a right and its decriminalization. As a result, when women and other people with
the capacity to gestate experience an unwanted pregnancy, they often face significant barriers to
accessing safe, high-quality abortion services that are consistent with the most recent scientific
advances.

For these reasons, it is essential to disseminate objective, evidence-based information to dispel
misconceptions about abortion and the obstacles that exist in accessing this health service. To
that end, below we address some of the most frequently asked questions and debunk some of
the most common myths.

Questions about abortion

What Is Abortion?

Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy, either spontaneously (when it occurs without any intervention or procedure, also known as miscarriage) or induced (the intentional termination of an intrauterine pregnancy through a medical or surgical procedure). It is a medical procedure that forms part of the right to health of women and other people with the capacity to gestate—the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified comprehensive abortion care as an essential health service.

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What Is the Difference Between Clandestine Abortion and Unsafe Abortion?

Clandestine abortion is not always unsafe abortion. An abortion is considered clandestine when the termination of a pregnancy is carried out outside or on the margins of the law. Unsafe abortion, on the other hand, is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “a procedure for terminating an unintended pregnancy, carried out either by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment that does not conform to minimal medical standards, or both.”

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What Is Self-Managed Abortion?

Self-managed abortion refers to an abortion carried out using medications (mifepristone and misoprostol) without the direct supervision of health care personnel. The WHO has indicated that self-managed abortion, when it is accessible and affordable, is a solution for improving the health and well-being of people who use health services. In 2022, Mexico’s National Center for Gender Equity and Reproductive Health (Centro Nacional de Equidad de Género y Salud Reproductiva, CNEGSR) issued its Technical Guidelines for the Provision of Safe Abortion Care in Mexico (Lineamiento técnico para la atención del aborto seguro en México, the CNEGSR Guidelines), which describe treatment options for abortion based on the quality standards established by the WHO and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO).

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How Should an Abortion Be Performed?

There are different ways to provide, manage, and perform an abortion depending on the gestational age. The CNEGSR Guidelines establish that, prior to fourteen weeks of gestation, abortion may be carried out using medications or through aspiration. After this period, it recommends dilation and evacuation in a supervised clinical setting. With regard to instrumental curettage, the Guidelines state that, being an obsolete and unjustified method, it should be avoided, as it not only carries greater risks and complications for the user’s health, but is also more costly for the health system—as it requires a surgical setting and specialized anesthetic management.

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How Has Abortion Evolved in Mexico?

The debate around the decriminalization of abortion in Mexico began in 1936, following the enactment of the Criminal Code in 1931. Nearly ninety years after feminists first called for decriminalized abortion, progress in terms of legal frameworks and public policy remains lacking. Currently, three quarters of Mexico’s federal entities have decriminalized abortion during (at least) a period close to the beginning of pregnancy.

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What Does Mexico’s Regulatory Framework on Abortion Address?

To guarantee freely accessible, safe, and free-of-charge access to abortion, this service must be incorporated into health regulations. It is also necessary to create public policies that ensure access to abortion (such as Mexico City’s Legal Termination of Pregnancy Program, Guerrero’s State Safe Abortion Program, the Legal Abortion Protocol in Jalisco, the Decree Establishing Safe Abortion Services in Public Institutions of the State Health System in Michoacán de Ocampo, the General Guidelines for the Organization and Operation of Pregnancy Termination Services in Oaxaca, and the Safe Abortion Program for the State of Veracruz), as well as to fully decriminalize abortion within the criminal law framework.

GIRE has designed a regulatory traffic light for abortion in Mexico—a quantitative tool that makes it possible to evaluate abortion-related regulations in the 32 federal entities and at the federal level.

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Did the Grounds-Based Regime and Time Limits Work at the National Level?

Although the grounds-based regime initially helped advance access to abortion, it remains a restrictive regulatory framework that continues to treat abortion as a crime. As a result, women and other pregnant people can exercise their reproductive autonomy only under certain conditions. Additionally, this framework creates confusion as to when abortion is legally permitted, contributing to both fear of criminalization and denial of services. Likewise, laws that prohibit or criminalize abortion based on gestational age limits also constitute a barrier to the exercise of reproductive rights. Regulating abortion exclusively through health regulations (and not through criminal law) would facilitate timely, high-quality, respectful, and non-discriminatory care, with evidence-based, stigma-free information.

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Does the Decriminalization of Abortion Depend on Public Opinion?

The recognition and protection of human rights are not concessions granted by the state and therefore should not be subject to public consultations. It is not necessary for there to be consensus on these matters, nor are they issues that can be overridden by the will of a majority. Public norms, adopted through democratic processes, must respond to the needs of the population; however, this does not include the legal recognition of social paradigms that violate human rights. Although majority consensus is not required, public perceptions of abortion in Mexico are currently favorable—a reality which has contributed to more federal entities moving toward decriminalization.

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Partial decriminalization ends criminalization: FALSE

Even under the partial decriminalization of abortion (through a grounds-based regime and time limits), people who have abortions and those who assist them continue to be reported to authorities and stigmatized. The criminalization of this health service has meant that case files continue to be opened against women and other people with the capacity to gestate based on suspicion of abortion. Even if this does not result in conviction, the stigma and physical, financial, and emotional toll of this process is in itself a burden for those under investigation, affecting their life plans.

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Only some reasons are valid for having an abortion: FALSE

Many different reasons can lead women and other pregnant people to decide to terminate a pregnancy: life plans, contexts of violence, economic hardship, and health conditions, among others. Some of the women and other pregnant people who have abortions do not have children and do not wish to become parents, others are already mothers and do not want a larger family, and still others wish to become mothers at a later point in their lives.

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State constitutions protecting life from conception prevent the decriminalization of abortion: FALSE

Constitutional protection of life from the moment of conception does not constitute a legal barrier to decriminalization or access to abortion services.

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Decriminalization would lead to an increase in abortions: FALSE

Since decriminalization in 2007, the number of induced abortions has decreased in Mexico City. According to data from the Mexico City Secretariat of Health, although the trend increased during the initial years of implementation of the LTP program, it quickly slowed and even declined in recent years. Liberalizing abortion in the legal framework does not necessarily encourage more women and other pregnant people to terminate a pregnancy; rather, it provides a safe space in which to do so. For this reason, in order to guarantee and respect the right to health, abortion should be a health service that is available upon request.

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The Supreme Court and Debunking Abortion Myths

A criminal complaint must be filed in order to access abortion when a pregnancy is the result of rape: FALSE

In 2013, the General Law on Victims (LGV, for its Spanish initials) was enacted. This law, which is in force throughout the country, established that victims of sexual violence have the right to access abortion and that their requests must be accepted in good faith (without suspicion that they are lying) when they seek the service on those grounds. Likewise, in 2016, through the amendment of Official Standard NOM-046-SSA2-2005 Family, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Criteria for Prevention and Care (NOM 046), it was established that filing a criminal complaint is not required in order to obtain an abortion when the pregnancy is the result of rape. Instead, it is sufficient to submit a written statement in which, under oath, a person declares that their pregnancy resulted from rape and that they wish to terminate it.

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Abortion requests must be reviewed and approved by hospital bioethics committees: FALSE

Bioethics committees do not have this authority.

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A pregnancy resulting from sexual violence can only be terminated during the first ninety days of gestation: FALSE

Terminations of pregnancies resulting from sexual violence must be provided at any time, with no gestational age limit. Neither the General Law on Victims (LGV) nor Official Standard NOM-046 establish gestational time limits for victims of sexual violence to access voluntary termination of pregnancy (VTP).[5]

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Health care personnel can invoke conscientious objection to prevent women and other pregnant people from having an abortion: FALSE

Conscientious objection must not, under any circumstances, restrict or violate the human rights of others; therefore, health care personnel cannot invoke it to evade their obligations.

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When the SCJN declared the crime of abortion unconstitutional in Coahuila, abortion was decriminalized nationwide: FALSE

The Supreme Court’s ruling regarding the Criminal Code of Coahuila did not result in amendments to the criminal codes of other federal entities. An Action of Unconstitutionality (AU) is a legal proceeding through which an authority claims that another authority has committed a human rights violation; it is limited to challenging a specific law and therefore has no effect on norms that were not the subject of the dispute. Nevertheless, the ruling did constitute a nationwide precedent establishing that no criminal convictions should be issued for the crime of abortion when it is carried out solely at the request of the woman or pregnant person during an early stage of pregnancy.

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