Mérida, Yucatán — A federal judge has canceled the 26,981-peso fines imposed on Yucatán state legislators for failing to comply in a timely manner with a court order to decriminalize abortion, ruling that the legislature has now fulfilled the judicial mandate.
Judge Mercedes del Sol Hernández Cetina, head of the Third District Court in Yucatán, issued the decision after the state Congress approved a constitutional reform on June 22 that removed a provision protecting life from conception. The reform aligned state law with Supreme Court rulings on reproductive rights.
The fines had been levied against each member of the local legislature and the Congress’s legal director, Miguel Ceballos Quintal, as a coercive measure under the Amparo Law to compel compliance with a federal court ruling. The judge noted that the fines were not intended as revenue but as a mechanism to enforce judicial orders when authorities delay or resist compliance.
In her ruling, Hernández Cetina stated that the basis for the fines no longer exists because the legislature has complied with the court order. She also found no evidence of bad faith on the part of the Congress in the delay that led to the sanctions.
Before the ruling, all parliamentary groups except Movimiento Ciudadano had filed legal challenges to avoid paying the fines. Those challenges are now moot.
The decision closes a chapter in the legal process stemming from the constitutional reform that brought Yucatán’s laws in line with federal criteria on reproductive rights.
