Anti-abortion supporter, Kevin Gouro prays along a fence decorated with roses outside the home of the Democratic National convention in Denver on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Bill Ross)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -
A fight over abortion between
Mexico's federal government and the capital's leftist lawmakers
goes to the Supreme Court next week, with the attorney general
urging judges to reinstate a ban on women terminating
pregnancies on demand.

The Catholic Church, a powerful force in the world's
second-biggest Catholic country, backs the federal government's
call to overturn a 2007 law allowing abortions in Mexico City.

But the capital's administration, headed by Mayor Marcelo
Ebrard, says women have a right to safe abortions rather than
risking their lives in unhygienic back-street clinics.

One of the court's 11 judges, Salvador Aguirre, has already
submitted a ruling which says the Mexico City law is
unconstitutional.

“The right to life recognized by the constitution remains
protected from the moment of conception,” Aguirre wrote.

But seven more judges will need to back Aguirre's decision
in order to overturn the law, which legalized abortions during
the first trimester and established free public clinics that
have provided more than 12,000 abortions since the statute was
approved in April, 2007.

While conservative President Felipe Calderon has largely
stayed on the sidelines of the dispute, his attorney-general's
office and the National Human Rights Commission filed a legal
challenge against the law shortly after it was approved.

The Mexico City government has said it is confident its law
will be upheld, as many of the Supreme Court's members
previously upheld the legalization of abortion for special
circumstances, such as when the fetus has defects.

“The issue of women's rights is the core of our argument,”
said Leticia Bonifaz, chief legal counsel of Mexico City.

Legal experts said the decision will determine whether
other states could follow Mexico City in legalizing abortion.

“This may be the most important decision in the entire
history of the court, in terms of people's rights,” said Miguel
Carbonell, an expert in constitutional law the National
Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM.

Judges will meet on Monday and a final decision could come
within a week.

The Supreme Court has played an increasingly important role
as national arbiter since the end of one-party rule in 2000,
when Calderon's conservative party first came to power.

Ebrard, who is grooming himself for a possible presidential
bid in 2012, has supported a series of measures that have
angered church leaders, including gay civil unions and a
statute allowing the terminally ill to refuse treatment.

(Editing by Anthony Boadle)