Mexico is leading the battle to strengthen protections for women who want to stop their pregnancies.

Following a recent trend of reducing regulations around the practise, lawmakers in Mexico’s southwestern state of Guerrero decided on Tuesday to allow abortions, making it the ninth of the country’s 32 federal entities where women can legally end pregnancies.

The bill, which removes one to three years of prison sentence from the penal code, received 30 votes in favour and 13 votes against.

Legal abortions were first made available in Mexico City 15 years ago. In 2019, the state of Oaxaca decriminalised abortion.