Mexico City, Sep 8 (EFE).- A Mexican judge ordered the release of seven women serving long prison term in the central state of Guanajuato after suffering spontaneous abortions, state Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa told Efe.
Last Friday, a judicial decree was published in Guanajuato reducing the punishment of women convicted of homicide in cases of miscarriage or spontaneous abortion.
"With the new juridical concept, these seven women will enjoy their freedom this very night," Zamarripa said Tuesday.
The women, all of them poor and with little education, were serving sentences of up to 30 years after being convicted of killing their newborn babies.
One of the women has already spent eight years behind bars.
This case sparked unease among Mexican and international human rights activists and public criticism from U.N. officials.
Last week, Guanajuato legislators added new wording to Article 156 of the state penal code "For the mother who deprives her child of life within the 24 hours immediately after the birth of the latter, and in addition if said deprivation is the consequence of motives of a psychosocial character, (a term of) three to eight years in prison will be imposed."
The women to be released are: Maria Araceli Camargo Juarez, Ofelia Segura Frias, Yolanda Martinez Montoya, Liliana Morales Moreno, Ana Rosa Padron Alarcon, Susana Dueñas Rocha and Bonifacia Andrade Hurtado.
Since 2000, more than 40 Guanajuato women have been put on trial for abortion, which carries with it a prison sentence of up to three years according to the state penal code, and nine of them are currently on probation.
Legislation regarding abortion varies among Mexico's 32 jurisdictions. While Mexico City permits termination of a pregnancy up to 12 weeks after conception, some states continue to treat abortion as a criminal offense.
But Mexican federal law allows abortion in all cases of rape or risk to the mother's life.
Conservative-ruled Guanajuato, the only state in the country to defy a federal mandate to pass a law against gender violence, has Mexico's highest rate of teen pregnancy yet refuses to teach sex education in schools.
