Puerto Rico recognized the personhood of unborn children last month in a heartening move that received little attention outside of pro-life circles. As Catholic site OSV News reports, the territory’s governor on Dec. 21 approved a law that “amends the Civil Code of Puerto Rico and recognizes the unborn child or ‘nasciturus’—a Latin legal term referring to ‘conceived but not born’—as a natural person from conception.”

Abortion laws in Puerto Rico are quite liberal; a woman can procure one at any time, even if she is underage and has no parental consent, according to AbortionFinder. While this new law doesn’t restrict abortion, it is an important first step toward protecting life on the island.

“Thank God we have achieved clear recognition in Puerto Rico that the human being in gestation is a natural person with all rights, as if he or she had been born,” said Father Carlos Pérez Toro, a Puerto Rican pro-life advocate. “Imagine what that means for the mother who now has a new instrument to defend her child.”

The priest suggested that the law could have practical benefits such as allowing a pregnant woman to designate her unborn child as her heir and claim the child as a dependent when filing taxes.

Puerto Rico is not alone in recognizing the personhood of the unborn. Georgia’s LIFE Act, passed in 2019, asserts that “natural persons include an unborn child.” States such as Oklahoma, Texas, and South Carolina have similarly recognized the personhood of the unborn through legislation or the court system. The Alabama Supreme Court famously ruled in 2024 that embryos created through IVF have the rights of children.

After the Alabama ruling, Planned Parenthood warned of the “growing threat of ‘fetal personhood’ measures across the country.” NPR fretted that “laws that codify the once-fringe notion of ‘legal personhood’ may … underpin decisions that could drastically curtail reproductive rights.”

This is good news for Puerto Rico, for pro-lifers, and for the rights of preborn children. May the idea of personhood for the unborn continue to become mainstream.