When Does a Baby's Life Begin? At Conception, If the US Government Gets Its Way

If you haven't been following the changes the federal government is proposing to make to health care, you better start now. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a draft of its strategic plan for the next four years, and it goes so far as to take an ideological approach to its definition of life, stating in plain terms that it starts as soon as a baby is conceived:

"HHS accomplishes its mission through programs and initiatives that cover a wide spectrum of activities, serving and protecting Americans at every stage of life, beginning at conception."

If it seems like a passing phrase, it's likely not: "This document has a very different frame from previous strategic plans," said Alina Salganicoff, vice president and director of women's health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, in an interview with Vox. "This is a significant departure, and the question is what does this mean for healthcare."

As impactful as it might be, it's unsurprising — saying the Trump administration's approach to preserving a woman's right to choose has been lackluster is an understatement. In his term so far, the president has already tried to put a stop to the birth control mandate in the Affordable Care Act and deem C-sections a preexisting condition.

The biggest problem with including this type of language in a government plan? "The argument that life begins at conception has long been used by socially conservative activists to attack birth control access," said Adam Sonfield, a senior policy manager at the Guttmacher Institute. "It could now form the basis of a new wave of attacks against publicly funded family planning services, for instance, by attempting to redirect funding to entities that do not offer the full array of birth control methods."

The entire purpose of drafting this 65-page policy plan is to get feedback from citizens — it's available for public comment until Oct. 27 — so if you are a woman who is passionate about having legal control over your own body, it's time to speak up and share your thoughts.