Puerto Rico has passed a new law that fosters the protection of unborn babies from abortion.
Puerto Rican Gov. Jennifer González-Colon signed the amended Senate Bill 923 last week, which legally recognizes unborn babies as human beings, thereby protecting them from abortion. The legislation, also called the Keishla Madlane Law, was named after Keishla Madlane Rodríguez Ortiz, who was murdered, along with her unborn child, in April 2021 by her partner, former Puerto Rican boxer Félix Verdejo-Sánchez.
“The legislation has the purpose of maintaining coherence between civil and criminal provisions by recognizing the unborn child as a human being,” González said in a statement on the social media platform X.
The abortion rights advocacy organization Center for Reproductive Rights states that abortion is legal in Puerto Rico for reasons involving a woman’s “life or health.” In the United States territory, the laws extend to “mental health and socio-emotional well-being.”
The move comes almost two months after Gonzalez-Colon signed a similar law, clarifying that “Every human being is a natural person, including the conceived child at any stage of gestation within the mother’s womb.” Senate Bill 504, which amends the Civil Code of Puerto Rico, states that “Every human being has legal personality and capacity from the moment of conception and is a subject of law for all purposes that are favorable to him or her. The inheritance rights that the law recognizes in favor of the unborn child are subject to the event of birth. The representation of the human being in gestation corresponds to whoever will exercise it when he or she is born and, in case of impossibility or incapacity, to a legal representative or court-appointed guardian.”
This law outlines that there could be “benefits that the unborn child could receive under this new legal framework.” Parents could claim protections “from health insurance companies, in personal injury lawsuits, in donations and property rights, and even in the context of labor rights that their parents could claim on behalf of the unborn child, among others.”
The legislation clarifies, however, that “the rights recognized to the unborn child do not diminish the power of the pregnant woman to make decisions about her pregnancy in accordance with the law.”
There have been mixed reactions to the announcement, with several organizations that oppose abortion stating their support for the law, while pro-abortion organizations have warned of the “consequences” of passing such a bill. SBA Pro-Life America in a social media post, called its implementation a “powerful example and a win for moms and babies.” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, also took to social media to celebrate what she described as a “big win.”
“Thank you to Gov. Jenniffer González for affirming what science has made clear for decades: Life begins at conception!” Hawkins posted on X.
Among opposers to the new law is the president of Puerto Rico’s College of Medical Surgeons, Dr. Carlos Díaz Vélez, who argues that it “will bring disastrous consequences” to pregnant women.
He also predicted that it’s possible that women with complicated pregnancies will be turned away by private doctors and will end up giving birth in the U.S. mainland or at the island’s largest public hospital, a situation he said the health system in Puerto Rico isn’t prepared for.