Puerto Rico’s New Prolife Law Affirms What Every Thinking Person Should Already Know about Life’s Beginning

A new law in Puerto Rico argues for what the Bible says about the beginning of human life, and for what every thinking person should already know. Life News reports:

Signed into law by Governor Jenniffer González Colón in late December 2025, PS 504 amends Puerto Rico’s Civil Code to recognize the unborn child as a “natural person” from conception for civil purposes, such as inheritance or other favorable rights.

Leading pro-life groups describe it as a symbolic recognition of life from conception but emphasize it does not alter current abortion statutes or add protections against abortion yet.

…While the law does not alter Puerto Rico’s current abortion statutes, it establishes an important legal and moral precedent by embedding recognition of the unborn child within the territory’s legal framework.

As Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, says, “Legal personhood for the preborn is not only consistent with science and human dignity but is the foundation upon which a culture of life can flourish.”

There is only one objective point of origin for any human being, only one point at which there was not a person a moment ago, and there is now. That point is conception—which science clearly shows is the moment when a new, utterly unique human being—a person—comes into existence.

Even those who deny the personhood of the unborn quietly recognize it to be true. I remember when Hilary Clinton, a prochoice politician, responded to her daughter Chelsea’s second pregnancy announcement in 2015, counting the unborn child as one of her grandchildren. She tweeted, “We’re so excited to meet our second grandchild!”

Back when Chelsea was pregnant with her first child, Bill and Hilary Clinton clearly referred to the fact that she was expecting a baby, not a fetus. “I think a lot about this new member of our family and what he or she can look forward to,” Hilary said. “And I am well aware that we will do everything possible to prepare this child, to protect this child.”

Ultrasound technology has given us a window into the womb, helping people see the obvious humanity of the unborn, especially as she goes on developing.  In the earliest stages after conception, the unborn child doesn’t appear human to us who are used to judging humanity by what we typically see. Nevertheless, in the objective scientific sense she is every bit as human as any older child or adult. In fact, she looks just like a human being ought to look at her stage of development. Furthermore, she’ll move to the next stages very quickly and will look like a baby often before her mother even knows she’s pregnant.

The newly fertilized egg, a distinct and living organism, contains a staggering amount of genetic information, sufficient to control the individual’s growth and development for his or her entire lifetime. A single thread of DNA from a human cell contains information equivalent to a library of one thousand volumes. Today we know the human genome has up to three billion base pairs of DNA that influence the expression of traits in an individual cell.

The cells of the new individual divide and multiply rapidly, resulting in phenomenal growth. Growth occurs because a life exists.

Between five and nine days after conception the new person burrows into the womb’s wall for safety and nourishment. Already his or her gender can be determined by scientific means. It will be two more weeks before clearly human features are discernible and three more before they’re obvious.

At just eighteen days after conception the heart is forming and eyes start to develop. By twenty-one days the heart pumps blood throughout the body. By twenty-eight days the unborn baby has budding arms and legs. By thirty days she has a brain and has multiplied in size ten thousand times!

By thirty-five days her mouth, ears, and nose are taking shape. At forty days the preborn child’s brain waves can be recorded, and her heartbeat, which began three weeks earlier, can be detected by an ultrasonic stethoscope. By forty-two days her skeleton is formed and her brain is controlling the movement of muscles and organs.

By eight weeks hands and feet are almost perfectly formed. The nine-week baby has “already perfected a somersault, backflip and scissor kick.” The unborn child responds to stimulus and may already be capable of feeling pain.

By ten weeks the child squints, swallows, and frowns. By eleven weeks she urinates, makes a wide variety of facial expressions including smiles. By twelve weeks the child turns her feet, curling and fanning her toes, makes a fist, moves thumbs, bends wrists, and opens her mouth.

All this happens in the first trimester, the first three months of life. This is no mere clump of cells! This is a living, growing human being, worthy of acknowledgement and protection.