Civil Rights Commission urges veto of bill granting legal personhood to the unborn
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
By THE STAR STAFF
Arguing that it raises constitutional deficiencies, limits women’s rights and capacity over their own bodies, and has serious implications for Puerto Rican law by granting legal personhood to the unborn, the Civil Rights Commission (CDC) requested on Tuesday that Gov. Jenniffer González Colón veto Senate Bill (SB) 504.
The bill proposes amending Articles 67, 69, and 70 of the Civil Code to recognize the legal personhood and capacity of the unborn child from the moment of conception and at any stage of gestation within the womb.
The measure, co-sponsored by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz and Sens. Joanne Rodríguez Veve, Brenda Pérez Soto and Wilmer Reyes Berríos, SB 504 was introduced on April 7 of this year and approved in the island Legislature on Nov. 13.
“The measure creates conflicts between the rights of women and the embryo,” reads Resolution 002, approved by the board of commissioners of the public agency, which seeks to persuade the governor, as a woman, not to sign the legislation. “It deprives them [women] of their constitutional rights due to pregnancy. It limits the exercise of their reproductive capacity, creating a conflict between women’s rights and the recognition of the rights of the unborn child. It grants the unborn child legal personality and capacity at any stage of pregnancy, with all the rights of born offspring.”
CDC Director Ever Padilla Ruiz said the bill requires extensive discussion and consideration, as several of the issues raised by some of the agencies whose opinions were sought have not yet been resolved.
“Our request is that you veto the bill,” Padilla Ruiz said. “Without a doubt, this measure, which passed the House of Representatives by default, creates a clear conflict between the rights of women and pregnant people and the unborn child, representing a constitutional challenge with implications in multiple areas of law that have not even been considered.”
The CDC director noted that the discussion about the legal personhood and capacity of the unborn child from the moment of conception “is not new.”
“This discussion has involved numerous studies and publications in legal journals,” he said.
According to the CDC resolution, SB 504 raises serious concerns about the hierarchy of constitutional rights it establishes. It raises legal implications that resonate in multiple areas of law, not only in the Civil Code, but throughout the entire legal system, beginning with serious constitutional questions about the full capacity of women and pregnant people, with implications in matters of criminal law, family law, inheritance law, obligations and contracts, tax law and commercial law. “The fundamental rights of citizens are ultimately the responsibility of the government, as such rights are an essential part of the Constitution and the laws,” Padilla Ruiz said. “The legislative record does not reveal a rigorous analysis of the consequences of this measure. The bill should have been the subject of a deep and broad discussion among all sectors of our society to reconcile the legitimate conflicting interests.”
The official expressed hope that the governor, as a woman and a mother, and in light of International Human Rights Day, which is today, will make the responsible decision to veto the bill.