"Human rights systems cannot require states to defend a right to life from conception," Justice Genaro Gongora Pimentel said. "It would mean imposing ideologies and subjective values that could sacrifice other rights that are fully identifiable."
Justice Sergio Aguirre Anguiano, who led the effort on the court to invalidate the measure, said the constitution guaranteed the right to life, and that such protections begin at conception.
He argued that Mexico City's legislature lacked authority to pass such a measure because health laws were under the purview of the federal government. But the court rejected that position in a preliminary 10-1 vote.
Mexico City lawmakers passed the measure after proponents argued that removing criminal penalties would make abortions more widely available to women of all social classes while reducing the risk of death or injury from procedures performed in underground clinics.
Illegal abortions have long been widely available, though many poor women seeking to terminate pregnancies have resorted to buying herbs from markets or prescription drugs obtained from pharmacists without a doctor's signature.
Since passage of the Mexico City law, hundreds of women have flocked to the capital for abortions in its public clinics. City officials say more than 12,600 women have had abortions since the law was approved.
The measure has saved lives, they say, citing a drop in the number of women who have died during the procedures.
But foes attacked the law as immoral and a violation of Mexican law and international conventions aimed at guaranteeing human rights. They also argued that Mexico City hospitals were overstretched and therefore unable to provide proper medical attention to women seeking abortions.
Many gynecologists in the public hospitals declared themselves as "conscientious objectors" to the law and refused to carry out the procedures. That has increased the workload of doctors who do perform abortions.
"We don't have the infrastructure," said Guadalupe Reyes Gonzalez, a Mexico City physician who stood along Paseo de la Reforma on a recent day as part of a group protesting the abortion law. "I'm here out of the love for children, and also for women."
For the most part, demonstrations were scattered and small as the deliberations began Monday.
The Catholic Church weighed in on the eve of the deliberations with a televised spot from the nation's council of bishops that said life begins at conception.
President Calderon remained largely on the sidelines of the debate, though his party is staunchly opposed to abortion.
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ken.ellingwood@latimes.com
