Abortion Legalized in Mexico City

This is what passes for progress in Mexico:

Mexico City lawmakers voted to legalize abortion Tuesday, a decision likely to influence policies and health practices across Mexico and other parts of heavily Roman Catholic Latin America.

The proposal, approved 46-19, with one abstention, will take effect with the expected signing by the city's leftist mayor. Abortion opponents have already vowed to appeal the law to the Supreme Court, a move likely to extend the bitter and emotional debate in this predominantly Catholic nation.

''Decriminalizing abortion is a historic triumph, a triumph of the left,'' said city legislator Jorge Diaz Cuervo, a social democrat who voted for the bill. ''Today, there is a new atmosphere in this city. It is the atmosphere of freedom.''

Sounds more like the atmosphere of death.