Puerto Rico Governor signs law to recognize fetus as human being

Puerto Rico’s Governor on Thursday signed a bill that amends a law to recognize a fetus as a human being, a move doctors and legal experts warn will have deep ramifications for the U.S. Caribbean territory.

The amendment was approved without public hearings and amid concerns from opponents who warned it would unleash confusion and affect how doctors and pregnant or potentially pregnant women are treated.

The new law will lead to “defensive health care,” warned Dr. Carlos Díaz Vélez, president of Puerto Rico’s College of Medical Surgeons.

“This will bring complex clinical decisions into the realm of criminal law,” he said in a phone interview.

He said that women with complicated pregnancies will likely be turned away by private doctors and will end up giving birth in the U.S. mainland or at Puerto Rico’s largest public hospital, noting that the island’s crumbling health system isn’t prepared.

Gov. Jenniffer González, a Republican and supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, said in a brief statement that “the legislation aims to maintain consistency between civil and criminal provisions by recognizing the unborn child as a human being.”

The amendment, in Senate Bill 923, was made to an article within Puerto Rico’s Penal Code that defines murder.

The government noted that the amendment complements a law that among other things, classifies as first-degree murder when a pregnant woman is killed intentionally and knowingly, resulting in the death of the conceived child at any stage of gestation. The law was named after Keishla Rodríguez, who was pregnant when she was killed in April 2021. Her lover, former Puerto Rican boxer Félix Verdejo, received two life sentences after he was found guilty in the killing.

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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.