Costa Rica gay couples will have same-sex unions as the president says she will legalize a bill that was ‘accidentally’ approved by lawmakers.

The Costa Rica president has said she will sign a bill where gay couples may have accidentally been giving the right to form same-sex unions.

Conservative lawmakers realized their mistake after the bill was approved by 45 members of parliament, and demanded President Laura Chinchilla veto the bill.

But in a video posted on AmeliaRueda, Chinchilla rejected the calls saying: ‘No, we’re going to go forward and I will sign this law.

‘We understand that the debate is over how some interpret the law and this alone is not sufficient for the executive to veto the law.’

According to daily newspaper La Nación, Costa Rica’s Communications Minister Carlos Roverssi confirmed the president’s statement.

Costa Rican lawmakers approved the bill on Monday (1 July), changing article 22 of the ‘Law of Young People’.

Previously stating unions were only recognized if they were between a man and a woman, the bill now recognizes ‘the right to recognition without discrimination contrary to human dignity, social and economic effects of domestic partnerships that constitute publicly, notoriously unique and stable, with legal capacity for marriage for more than three years.’

Manrique Oviedo, of the Citizen Action Party (PAC) said Chinchilla must veto the bill as he felt ‘deceived’ because he was unaware of the bill’s wording.

Deputy Justo Orozco said the case must be looked at carefully because ‘you can’t give certain rights to people who don’t deserve them’.

But lawmaker Jose Maria Villalta, a member of the leftist Broad Front Party, said conservative lawmakers simply did not read the entire bill before approving it.

If the bill passes, Costa Rica will join the five Latin American countries to approve same-sex unions. Brazil was the most recent on 14 May 2013.