By a vote of 72-26 with six abstentions, Peru’s Congress has passed a bill that expressly recognises the rights granted in its constitution to unborn children.

Congressman Alejandro Muñante, one of the spokespersons for the Life and Family caucus in Peru, said that the fundamental purpose of the law was “to consolidate the right to life from conception, which is already established in our constitution and in the Civil Code and the Children and Adolescents Code.”

The lawmaker explained that for the drafting of this law, “the need was seen to be able to develop and detail a list of rights that our constitution precisely seeks to protect from conception.” According to Article 2 of the country’s Magna Carta, in Peru “the conceived child is a subject of law in everything that favors him or her.”