MEXICO: Senate votes to decriminalize adultery, previously punishable by up to two years in prison

Record ID: 303520

  • Title: MEXICO: Senate votes to decriminalize adultery, previously punishable by up to two years in prison
  • Date: 26th March 2011
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (MARCH 25, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COUPLES WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RESIDENT, MARIA ELENA NOGUERON, SAYING: "It's great that they have decriminalized it, more than anything because, these days, who doesn't commit adultery? I think everybody has lived through adultery; sooner or later it comes about. What can I tell you?" VARIOUS OF COUPLES VARIOUS OF MEXICAN COURTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ATTORNEY AT LAW, ERNESTO MEDINA ROBLES, SAYING: "Infidelity is a characteristic of our society. Fidelity is the exception. In my point of view, the norm is infidelity, that is to say adultery. So the fact that adultery has been decriminalized at a federal level, they have done well, as if it won't exist." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN THE PARK
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico, Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Entertainment,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEQJL8VKM3GU0X1DLOYCP53RT9
  • Story Text: Mexico's Congress voted on Friday (March 25) to pull adultery from the list of criminal offenses, saying the law as it existed was not being enforced.
    With 69 votes in favor and one abstention, the vote passed almost unanimously, with lawmakers citing the fact no one had been charged for adultery since 2004.
    Mexican senator Pablo Gomez called the vote a victory for women.
    "Congratulations to the Mexican Congress on a move that restores freedom, the dignity of women [and] repeals the crime that was built against them. Thank you very much," Gomez said.
    Senators said the law was obsolete and outdated on top of being "unworkable."
    Mexico City resident Maria Elena Nogueron told Reuters she agreed with the repeal.
    "It's great that they have decriminalized it, more than anything because, these days, who doesn't commit adultery? I think everybody has lived through adultery; sooner or later it comes about. What can I tell you?" Nogueron said.
    States may still able to fine adulterers for offenses, but legislators said the law was difficult to prove.
    "Infidelity is a characteristic of our society. Fidelity is the exception. In my point of view, the norm is infidelity, that is to say adultery. So the fact that adultery has been decriminalized at a federal level, they have done well, as if it won't exist," said lawyer Ernesto Medina Robles.
    The scrapped law said adultery could be punished by two years in prison.
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