New Puerto Rico Law Saying Unborn Babies are Human Beings Could Lead to Abortion Ban

On February 12, 2026, Governor Jenniffer González-Colón signed a landmark reform that finally speaks with clarity about the child in the womb. Law 18-2026 amends the Penal Code of Puerto Rico so that the term “human being” expressly includes the conceived child at any stage of gestation.

In one clear sentence, the criminal law now acknowledges that a child in the womb is not an object or a legal shadow, but a member of the human family whom the state must protect.

This reform does...