Mexico City, Mexico - Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday decriminalized abortion nationwide, in stark contrast with the increasing restriction of reproductive freedom in the US.

The court said on social media "that the legal system that penalizes abortion in the Federal Penal Code is unconstitutional, since it violates the human rights of women and people with the capacity to gestate."

It follows a similar Supreme Court ruling two years ago that abortion was not a crime, de facto authorizing it throughout Mexico.

That declaration followed a constitutional challenge to the penal code of the northern state of Coahuila, opening the way for women across the country to access the procedure without fear of prosecution.

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Mexico's reforms go in the opposite direction to the US, where 15 states have introducing outright bans on abortion, with seven others heavily restricting the procedure, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The situation has even led some US women in need of an abortion to seek help from activists across the border in Mexico.

In Latin America, elective abortion is legal in Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, and Uruguay, though far-right Argentine presidential frontrunner Javier Milei wants to ban the procedure.

In several nations it is allowed in certain circumstances, such as rape or health risks, while outright bans apply in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.