MEXICAN women’s rights groups have hailed a historic victory after the country’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that it is unconstitutional to penalise abortion.

The ruling, which effectively decriminalises abortion at state level, follows years of campaigning by the women’s movement in Mexico.

The court unanimously overturned a law in Coahuila, a state on the border with the US state of Texas, that had made abortion a criminal act.

The decision will only have an immediate effect in the the northern border state, but it sets a precedent that could lead to the legalisation of terminations across the country.

“Today is a historic day for the rights of all Mexican women,” Chief Justice Arturo Zaldivar said after the unanimous decision.

“It is a watershed in the history of the rights of all women, especially the most vulnerable.

“Now begins a new path of freedom, of clarity, of dignity and respect for all pregnant people, but above all for women,” he added.

“Today is one more step in the historic fight for their equality, for their dignity, and for the full exercise of their rights.”

The move was condemned however by the Catholic church, which still maintains influence among Mexico’s population of 130 million.

“Those of us who are convinced of the value of life do not have a need for a homicidal law like the one they [the Supreme Court] are approving,” the Episcopal Conference of Mexico said in a statement.

In a sermon on Tuesday, its secretary general Bishop Alfonso Miranda Guardiola said: “We cannot remain indifferent, silent, fearful when life is in such danger.”

The ruling means that women who have been arrested for terminating their pregnancy can now press to have the charges dropped.

It also paves the way for those that have been jailed for having abortions to be freed and their prison sentences overturned.

International Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Giselle Carino said: “If there is a message, it is to look at the leadership of Mexico here. This is possible, it is happening.”

The ruling could see citizens of the US state of Texas travel across the border for an abortion after restrictive measures were imposed there last week, effectively banning terminations.