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Changing Policies on Abortion and Marriage in Mexican States: Social Movements and Involved Causality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Carlos Arturo Martínez-Carmona Open the ORCID record for Carlos Arturo Martínez-Carmona [Opens in a new window]
Carlos Arturo Martínez-Carmona*
Affiliation:
Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mario de La Cueva, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510, Mexico City, Mexico
*
cmartinez@sociales.unam.mx
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Abstract

In Latin America, it is recognised that social movements have a relevant role in changing social policies on abortion and marriage; however, little is known about the operating conditions accounting for the causal implication. Resorting to a qualitative comparative analysis of 24 Mexican policies, this research explores the conditions taken from moral policy literature. Drawing on extensive data, it argues three causal patterns, where influential movements are a necessary but no sufficient, (1) influential movements require a context full of “legal opportunities”—favourable legal precedents and Court intervention; (2) if they only find favourable legal precedents, conservative actors influence must be scarce, and (3) in cases where the Congress is conservative, the Court intervention, and the minimum conservative influence are required for movements to achieve legal changes on abortion and marriage. The novelty of this article consists of a new model that explains the conditions that play a relevant role in analysing abortion and equal marriage policy changes; in addition, valuable inputs are included for the benefit of the interested parties.

Keywords

Social movementsMoral policiesAbortionEqual marriageQualitative comparative analysis

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