Mexican women protest against Supreme Court decision endorsing surrogate wombs

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Mexican feminists protested this Monday against the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) because it has endorsed surrogacy in the midst of a prolonged and controversial debate on the topic.

A group of women, dressed as characters from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” demonstrated against the Supreme Court’s ruling, which last week decided that states have the power to regulate whether a woman can charge for lending her womb or can do so “altruistically.”

“By endorsing that women and babies are considered commodities that can be rented or bought, they are turning their backs on us. They are not with our human rights, they are with those who want to commodify our bodies,” said activist Laura Lecuona as she read a letter addressed to the SCJN.

The protest occurs while the Supreme Court discusses the constitutionality of the Civil Code of Tabasco, a state in the southeast of the country that in 1997 became the first to legalize the practice, which is also allowed only in Sinaloa state, since 2013.

Despite the longevity of the legislation, the Court is only now studying a suit for a declaration of unconstitutionality filed by the former Attorney General’s Office (PGR) after a reform of Tabasco in 2016, with the argument that the states do not have the power to legislate on the matter.

But last week, in the middle of the closing campaigns for the June 6 elections, the SCJN endorsed both free and paid surrogacy and even invalidated the provisions of Tabasco that prohibited access to same-sex and foreign couples.

The debate on the scope of the reform has been lengthy, due to the disagreements of the ministers and an unusual analysis of specific aspects of the law since it is an unprecedented discussion in the Judiciary.

However, feminist groups have launched a campaign to pressure the ministers and the Supreme Court president, Arturo Zaldívar, to vote against surrogacy.

“If you are the ones who must comply with and enforce our Constitution and ensure that all authorities promote, respect, and guarantee our human rights, with these agreements, it is clear that you are not doing so,” said Lecuona in reading the statement.

The protest aroused interest because the demonstrators were dressed as the characters of “The Handmaid’s Tale”, a novel turned into a TV series that portrays a dystopian world in which men only use women as servants and procreation.

“Women are not merchandise, no to surrogacy,” read the demonstrators’ banners.