Today Mexico's Supreme court upheld an April 2008 Mexico City decision to decriminalize abortion, thus permitting women to have an abortion in Mexico City during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy without the penalty of jail time. The court ruling is highly controversial, and saw 8 justices in favor and 3 against. Until very recently, abortions punished all parties involved with jail time. The court decision now opens the possibility of other states outside the Federal District to enact similar reforms.