Restrictions

Puerto Rico generally prohibits abortion except when “therapeutic” and to “preserve the health or life” of the pregnant person.^[1]33 L.P.R.A. § 4739; id. §§ 5147-5149. Puerto Rico law restricts the provision of abortion care to licensed physicians.^[2]Id. § 4739. Individuals who violate Puerto Rico’s abortion restrictions may face criminal penalties.^[3]See, e.g., id. § 5147. The territory requires providers to submit reports to the state.^[4]24 L.P.R.A. § 232. In 2020, Governor Wanda Vázquez signed a new civil code into law, recognizing a fetus “as a person,” and that it is “considered born for all the effects that are favorable to him or her.”^[5]Sustitutivo de la Cámara al P. de la C. 1654 (2020). While the code also states “the rights recognized to the nasciturus [unborn child] are subject to it being born alive and in no way undermine the constitutional rights of the pregnant woman to make decisions about her pregnancy,”^[6]Id. the code could be interpreted to restrict abortion access.^[7]Tina Vasquez, ‘Trying to survive in Puerto Rico’: A conversation with Taller Salud, Interview in Gender Justice, Prism (June 18, 2020)

Protections

The Constitution of Puerto Rico contains an explicit right to privacy,^[8]Figueroa Ferrer v. Commonwealth, 107 D.P.R. 250 (1978). but the Puerto Rico Supreme Court has not addressed whether it encompasses the right to abortion. Maternity leave is available for public employees who have obtained an abortion.^[9]21 L.P.R.A. § 4567 (f) (provided it “produces the same physiological effects that are regularly seen as a result of child-birth”).

Post-Roe Prohibitions

Puerto Rico repealed its pre-Roe ban in 2011.^[10]33 L.P.R.A. §§ 1051-54, repealed by Law of July 12, 2011, No. 125, art. 1, ef. July 12, 2011.

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, it is possible that Puerto Rico would enact an outright ban on abortion or severe abortion restrictions.^[11]See, e.g., S.B. 950, 18th Leg. Assemb., 3d Sess. (May 7, 2018); S.B. 950, 18th Leg. Assem., 5th Sess. (Mar. 4, 2019). If so, there is a very real possibility that the ability to obtain an abortion—already out of reach for so many residents of the island—would cease.