The new GOP tax plan released yesterday allows parents to contribute to their preborn baby’s 529 college savings account, calling the baby a “child in utero.” The language, which recognizes the personhood of preborn babies, has infuriated pro-choice activists.

The bill, titled H.R.1, goes further to define a child in utero as “a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.”

Abortion Activists React

The language has angered NARAL and Planned Parenthood. NARAL posted on twitter that, “The GOP’s relentless obsession with advancing its dangerous anti-choice ideology knows no boundaries and no common sense. #TaxReform.” NARAL’s Kaylie Hanson Long continued, “Inserting ‘personhood’ language into their tax bill is just the latest example of how they’re trying to turn back the clock on this country.”

The GOP's relentless obsession with advancing its dangerous anti-choice ideology knows no boundaries and no common sense. #TaxReform pic.twitter.com/gU6XyRdBC7

— NARAL (@NARAL) November 2, 2017

NARAL added “Leave it to the GOP to figure out how to stick language that would help them pass an abortion ban into a tax bill.”

Leave it to the GOP to figure out how to stick language that would help them pass an abortion ban into a tax bill. pic.twitter.com/4NPzrxLX4b

— NARAL (@NARAL) November 2, 2017

Planned Parenthood’s Dana Singiser, VP of Public Policy and Government Affairs also took offense at the new language. “It is absurd that House Republican leaders would use a tax bill to try to advance their relentless agenda to undermine access to safe, legal abortion,” said Singiser. “Denying women access to safe, legal abortion is wildly out of touch with the majority of Americans. Politicians in Washington, D.C. have no place inserting themselves in decisions about women’s health and lives, not on this bill and not on any bill.”

This is a clear attempt to use the Tax bill to make it harder to access abortion. pic.twitter.com/SVjUU33jrT

— Erica Sackin (@ericajanes) November 2, 2017

A ‘Huge Leap Forward’

March for Life president Jeanne Mancini called the language a “huge leap forward,” reported Townhall. “House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) deserves praise for including language in this tax bill that recognizes the personhood of unborn children by allowing expectant parents to contribute to their child’s 529 education savings account in the year prior to birth,” she said. Mancini further added,

A child in the womb is just as human as you or I yet, until now, the U.S. tax code has failed to acknowledge the unborn child — all while granting tax breaks for those seeking an abortion under the pretense of “healthcare.” The proposed tax plan is a huge leap forward for an antiquated tax code, and we hope this is the first step in expanding the child tax credit to include unborn children as well.

Susan B. Anthony List’s Communication Director Mallory Quigley  “a small increment in the momentum that we’re building to ensure that one day every child is welcomed and protected under the law. …We hope that it stays in the House bill and that it stays in anything the Senate puts out.”

HHS: ‘Life Begins at Conception’

The tax code’s new language comes on the heels of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stating that “life begins at conception.” An article previously published on The Stream explains the HHS’ change. “The introduction explains that the “HHS accomplishes its mission through programs and initiatives … serving and protecting Americans at every stage of life, beginning at conception.” The claim that life begins at conception occurs five times in the “Strategic Plan FY 2018-2022.”

Senator Ted Cruz tweeted his approval.

Each life is a gift from God. Encouraged to see @HHS recognize that life begins at conception. https://t.co/Gx0iweVvNe

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) October 11, 2017