As reported by the San Juan Daily Star, on Dec. 21 Puerto Rico's Governor Jenniffer González Colón signed into law Senate Bill 504 (full text in Spanish) (full text unofficial English translation) declaring fetal personhood. The law provides in part:
... Every human being is a natural person, including the one conceived at any stage of gestation within the mother's womb."...
Every human being has personality and legal capacity from the moment of conception and is a subject of law for all purposes that are favorable to him. The hereditary rights that the law recognizes in favor of the unborn are subordinate to the event of birth....
The rights recognized to the unborn child do not impair the power of the pregnant woman to make decisions about her pregnancy in accordance with the law....
A National Right to Life press release applauding the Governor's action said in part:
... This historic legal recognition marks one of the strongest pro‑life affirmations within U.S. jurisdictions. By explicitly acknowledging the inherent dignity and personhood of the preborn, Puerto Rico has taken a principled and scientifically grounded step to align its civil law with the biological reality that human life begins at fertilization.
SB 504 amends the Civil Code to recognize the preborn child as a natural person from the moment of conception. While the law does not alter Puerto Rico’s current abortion statutes, it establishes an important legal and moral precedent by embedding recognition of the unborn child within the territory’s legal framework....
