Human Rights Watch Honors Mexican Activist - Veronica Cruz Sanchez

“Human Rights Watch will give its highest award to Ver�nica Cruz, a leading Mexican women’s rights advocate, on November 2. Cruz is the founder and head of Las Libres (The Free Women), the only organization in the conservative state of Guanajuato to help rape victims access safe abortion. In Mexico, where abortion generally is illegal, rape victims have the legal right to an abortion under all state criminal codes. However, women and girls who seek to exercise this right face multiple hindrances. In Guanajuato, abortion has been legal in cases of rape for more than 30 years. Yet, in 2000, the state legislature attempted to amend the state penal code to strip rape victims of this right. In response, Cruz organized masses of women publicly to protest the new law. As a result of this pressure, then-governor of Guanajuato Ram�n Mart�n Huerta vetoed the law.”

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