On December 21, Governor Jenniffer González of Puerto Rico signed Senate Bill 504 into law, recognizing pre-born children as “natural persons” by amending Puerto Rico’s Civil Code. It states: “Every human being is a natural person, including the conceived child at any stage of gestation within the mother’s womb.”
While the law does not impact abortion laws in the American territory, abortion activists are warning that SB504 is a significant step in that direction. Senator Maria de Lourdes Santiago of the Puerto Rican Independence Party called it “another step on the path towards making the women’s right to decide illegal.”
Father Carlos Pérez Toro, pastor of Santa Rosa de Lima Church and civil lawyer graduate of Inter American University of Puerto Rico School of Law, celebrated the bill’s passage.
“It is recognized that the human being in gestation is a natural person from the first moment of conception; using a legal term that only applied when a human being was born, it is said that he or she has legal personality and capacity from the first moment of conception,” he said.
SB504 was written by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz of the New Progressive Party (NPP) and co-sponsored by Sens. Joanne Rodríguez Veve (Independent), Brenda Pérez (NPP-Arecibo), and Wilmer Reyes (NPP-Guayama). It grants pre-born children inheritance rights, including the ability to be named as a beneficiary or heir, and states explicitly that it does not impact a woman’s legal “right” to abort her pre-born child.
“Rather than radical, the law reflects a growing acknowledgment that legal systems cannot indefinitely avoid the scientific reality that human life begins at conception,” wrote Vianca Rodriguez. “By naming that reality directly, Puerto Rico chose honesty over ambiguity and placed the value of unborn life firmly within its legal framework, reinforcing long-standing principles of human dignity and the protection of life recognized in both Puerto Rico’s and the United States’ constitutional traditions.”
Despite that, the move to legally recognize fetal personhood has infuriated Puerto Rico’s abortion activists. According to press reports, they are “are mobilizing against a new law recognizing the unborn as a natural person, warning it could threaten abortion rights despite privacy protections.”
Alondra del Mar Hernández of Aborto Libre Puerto Rico called the law “a tool of manipulation” and “a mechanism of control” that could lead to the criminalization of abortion; Patricia Otón of the same group compared it to similar laws “particularly in the South, where abortion laws are most restrictive.”
Carol Tobias of National Right to Life, on the other hand, called SB504 a “landmark achievement for the pro‑life movement”:
Puerto Rico’s clear and courageous recognition of preborn babies as persons reflects a deep respect for life and provides a powerful example for lawmakers throughout the United States. Legal personhood for the preborn is not only consistent with science and human dignity but is the foundation upon which a culture of life can flourish.
Kelsey Pritchard of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America concurred, calling the law “a historic victory for babies and moms across the island and a powerful example for lawmakers throughout the United States.”
“Thank God we have achieved clear recognition in Puerto Rico that the human being in gestation is a natural person with all rights, as if he or she had been born,” Father Carlos Pérez Toro said. “Imagine what that means for the mother who now has a new instrument to defend her child.”
