Puerto Rico’s Governor signed a law criminalizing abortion and sparking condemnation from Human Rights groups over violations of bodily autonomy and due process.
Puerto Rico’s Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez signed Project 923 into the 18-2026 law, criminalizing abortion as murder and drawing strong condemnation from human rights groups, who deem it a gross violation of bodily autonomy and due process.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Puerto Rico, Citizen Victory Movement (Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana -MVC, in Spanish), feminists, religious groups, healthcare professionals, and Human Rights defenders strongly denounced on February 13 the signing of Senate 923 Project.
This new legislation defines the death of an unborn conceived child, including spontaneous abortion, as murder.
Activists highlight that this project, promoted by anti-rights movements, aims to impose their will on the bodies and decisions of women and pregnant people, effectively seeking to prohibit abortion and compel them to carry pregnancies to term.
ACLU Puerto Rico Executive Director, Annette Martinez Orabona, emphasized that the Legislature’s failure to conduct public hearings represents “a violation of the citizen participation process and sound legislative management.”
Martinez Orabona also criticized Governor Gonzalez for validating an “undemocratic procedure” by approving the measure without allowing potentially impacted groups and individuals to present their views.
Text reads: “This is how members of the legislative chambers voted for Senate Bill 923, a measure that seeks to amend Article 92 of the Penal Code to include “conceived unborn, at any stage of gestation,” as a human being in the definition of murder. The project went under and was approved without public hearings.”
Mayra Vicil Bernier, from MVC’s Law, Justice, and Security Network, underscored that while the measure is presented as life protection, it “creates a serious legal, constitutional, and practical problem for Puerto Rico’s judicial and health systems.” She noted that the penal code “was not designed to process pregnancies, medical decisions, or obstetric emergencies as violent crimes.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned in June 2022 the landmark ruling known as ‘Roe v. Wade,’ which had guaranteed abortion rights since 1973, numerous bills have been introduced in Puerto Rico to limit abortion, but all had failed so far.
The difference, experts argue, is that under the federal constitution abortion is not a fundamental right. But in Puerto Rico, a free state associated with the U.S., it was protected by the constitutional right to privacy.
Among them are Law 183-2025, which amended the Civil Code to recognize “personality and legal capacity from the moment of conception”, and Law 166-2025, which states that the murder of a pregnant woman causing the death of the fetus will be considered a double murder.
Since the beginning of the four-year period, the legislature has approved – without public hearings – several measures recognizing fetal rights.
The Citizen Victory Movement (MVC) urged “not to seek to undermine fundamental rights and to disparage the lives and bodies of women in order to continue their electoral game.”
Author: Laura V. Mor
Source: El Nuevo Dia
0 Comentarios