Puerto Rico’s penal code recognizes unborn babies as human beings

Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González signed into law on Feb. 12 a bill amending the penal code to recognize unborn babies as human beings at “any stage of gestation.”

Senate Bill 923 — which when signed became Law 18-2026 — amends Article 92 of the penal code, which currently states that “murder is the intentional, knowing, or reckless killing of a human being.”

The new law establishes that “for the purposes of this chapter, ‘human being’ shall include any conceived [unborn child] at any stage of gestation within the mother’s womb.”

This legislation was authored by González, a Republican. In a press release posted on X, she explained that the objective is to complement Law 166-2025, known as the Keyshla Madlane Law, named after a pregnant woman in Puerto Rico who was murdered in April 2021.

This law, the press release states, “among other things, defines as first-degree murder the intentional and knowing killing of a pregnant woman, resulting in the death of the unborn child at any stage of gestation within the mother’s womb.”

In this regard, the approval of Law 18-2026 stands out, noting that “the legislation aims to maintain consistency between civil and criminal provisions by recognizing the conceived unborn child as a human being.”

In December 2025, the governor also signed into law Senate Bill 504, which amended the civil code to state that “a human being in gestation or nasciturus is a natural person, including the conceived child at any stage of gestation within the mother’s womb.”

A natural person simply means a living human being as distinct from a legal person such as a corporation.

At the time, all of these laws were criticized by feminist and pro-abortion groups, who argued that they could lead to a ban on abortion in Puerto Rico and other U.S. jurisdictions.

However, Puerto Rico Sen. Joanne Rodríguez Veve defended the passage of Bill 923 in January, stating that “the message of this type of legislation is powerful. It reaffirms this kind of language in our public policy that in the womb of a pregnant woman there is not just anything, not a mere indefinable object, but a subject, a developing human being who has dignity and whose value is intrinsic to their human nature.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.