Governance

The United States Supreme Court has held that inhabitants of Puerto Rico enjoy due process and equal protection rights.^[1]Examining Bd. of Engineers, Architects & Surveyors v. Flores de Otero, 426 U.S. 572, 600 (1976). Abortion has been legislated in Puerto Rico since at least 1879, and it was prohibited without exception until 1937, when a health or life exception was added.^[2]Pueblo v. Duarte Mendoza, 109 D.P.R. 596, 598, n.2 (1980).  The Puerto Rico Supreme Court in Duarte Mendoza also discussed the historical context of abortion in Puerto Rico, and the fact that laws … Continue reading  This change in 1937 was part of a broader eugenic, colonial, and capitalist biomedical agenda imposed on the island, which manifested itself most devastatingly in the form of forced sterilizations and experiments with birth control.^[3]Yamila Azize-Vargas and Luis A. Avilés, Abortion in Puerto Rico: The Limits of a Colonial Legality, 17 P.R. Health Sci. J. 27, 28 (1998), … Continue reading Perversely, these unconscionable efforts at reproductive coercion, “as injurious and abusive as they were” led to the creation of “an infrastructure of health facilities, services, and train human resources, which indirectly benefited issues related to reproductive health.”^[4]Id. As a result, prior to Roe, pregnant people of means traveled from the mainland to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to obtain safe abortions even though they were technically illegal on the island.^[5]Id.

Restrictions

Puerto Rico generally prohibits abortion except when “therapeutic”, to “preserve the health or life” of the pregnant person.^[6]33 L.P.R.A. §§ 5147-5149. For the post-Roe and pre-Dobbs analysis of abortion, see Pueblo v. Duarte Mendoza, 109 D.P.R. 596 (1980). Puerto Rico law restricts the provision of abortion care to licensed physicians.^[7]33 L.P.R.A. § 5147. Individuals who violate Puerto Rico’s abortion restrictions may face criminal penalties.^[8]See, e.g., 33 L.P.R.A. §§ 5147-5148. The territory requires providers to submit reports to the state.^[9]24 L.P.R.A. § 232; Puerto Rico Department of Health, Reglamento de Centros de Terminación de Embarazo, No. 7654 R. (Dec. 29, 2008), … Continue reading

Protections

The Constitution of Puerto Rico contains an explicit right to privacy,^[10]P.R. Const. art. II, §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.

Post-Roe Prohibitions

Puerto Rico repealed its pre-Roe ban in 2011.^[11]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.^[12]See, e.g., H.B. 1407, 19th Leg. Assemb., 3d Sess. (June 25, 2022); H.B. 1084, 19th Leg. Assem., 2nd Sess. (Nov. 8, 2021). 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.