In a stunning change of direction from the Obama administration, the Trump Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has not only declared that human life begins "at conception," but has made protecting citizens "from conception to natural death" one of its top priorities.

While the Obama HHS under Kathleen Sebelius championed abortion coverage, the HHS under Trump's pick Tom Price proposed in its newly released draft "strategic plan" to rescind that mandate and defend life and religious liberty. The strategic plan, dated September 2017, sets goals beginning in 2018 and ending 2022.

The proposed plan states that HHS will serve and protect Americans at "every stage of life, beginning at conception" and up through "natural death."

The HHS specifically states under the first goal of "Reform, Strengthen, and Modernize the Nation's Health Care" that its "ultimate goal is to improve healthcare outcomes for all people, including the unborn."

Pro-lifers are cheering the proposed plan while abortion activists have expressed outrage.

"The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) applauds the recognition that human life begins at the 'moment of conception' which, when rightly understood, is the moment of the fusion of the sperm and egg," Executive Director Dr. Donna J. Harrison told LifeSiteNews.

National Right to Life President Carol Tobias told LifeSiteNews that the plan was a "positive step forward to that day when all unborn children are protected."

40 Days for Life President Shawn Carney told LifeSiteNews that it was "very encouraging to see the new HHS effort to confirm what science has been telling us—life begins at conception."

Clarke Forsythe, Senior Counsel at Americans United for Life (AUL) told LifeSiteNews that the HHS addition of "beginning at conception" in reference to protecting lives "accurately reflects current state law."

"Thirty-eight states now have a fetal homicide law and thirty of them begin legal protection at conception," he said. "In addition, there are court cases and legal and legislative declarations in nearly all of the states stating that the life of a human being begins at conception."

"It's appropriate that HHS should bring its mission into line with the legal protection of human beings in current law," Forsythe said.

Jim Sedlak, American Life League Executive Director, said that no one should be surprised that the HHS strategic plan under the administration of "pro-life President Donald Trump" differs from the strategic plan put together by the "administration of the most pro-abortion president in American history—Barack Obama."

Sedlak said some are portraying the HHS changes as "somehow anti-woman."

"When will these people realize that about fifty percent of the babies that will have their lives saved through a more pro-life approach will be female?" he told LifeSiteNews.

"It is incredible that, in 2017, there are still people who deny that every human being's life begins at Stage 1-A of the Carnegie Stages of Human Development," he added.

Sedlak said the HHS changes merely reflect scientific fact.

"The addition of the words 'beginning at conception' is not a radical departure but simply a clarifying phrase," he said. "The phrase is necessary because many abortion supporters want to deny that the term 'every stage of life' includes life stages that occur before birth."

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said that Trump's HHS administration is stating "the obvious" in the proposed plan.

"It's a sign of the power of the abortion lobby that it's big news for HHS to acknowledge the kind of science every kid learns K-12: that a new human life is created at the moment of conception, growing, responding to stimuli, exhibiting all the signs of life that NASA keeps looking for on distant planets," she said.

"At least our government now proclaims what we all learned at grade school: a new human life begins at conception," Hawkins concluded, "and we should treat those unique persons with the same respect we expect for ourselves."

Lila Rose of Live Action commented that the change to the HHS mandate "might be five little words, but its meaning is deep..."

Click here to continue reading.

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Missionaries Report Muslims Meeting Jesus in Dreams 'In Levels We Have Never Seen in 1,400 Years!'

#31times You Saw a Trafficked Child But Didn't Know It

Following the Fall of Roe, June Is a Month to Celebrate Life: 'It's a total God thing!'

KC Chiefs' Harrison Butker's Wardrobe Makes Pro-Life Statement during Chiefs' White House Visit on Monday

Americans Believe There Are Only Two Genders By a 3-1 Margin

Nolte: Donald Trump Breaks CNN — Another CEO Is Out

Just the Beginning: WHO, EU Announce Partnership Creating 'Global System' of Digital Vaccine Passports

First Episode of 'Tucker on Twitter' Gets Huge Viewership. Really Huge

79th Anniversary of D-Day: It May Not Be an Official Holiday, but It Deserves Reverence Akin to That of Memorial Day

MLB, US Navy Remove 'Pride Month' Logos from Social Media One Day after June 1

'Incredibly Unjust': Elon Musk Supports Girl Who Spoke Out against Trans-Identifying Student

High School Senior Banned from Walking at Graduation, Loses Job after Saying 'Guys Are Guys and Girls Are Girls' during School Address

Texas Governor Greg Abbott Signs Law Banning 'Trans' Drugs, Surgeries for Children

Italy's PM Meloni Declares 'Family Pride Month' to Counter the LGBT Movement, and Promote Traditional Family

NBA Star Who Refused to Take Knee During National Anthem Speaks Into Chaotic, Dark Culture With Pro-Faith and Freedom Clothing Line

Fox Host: I Was Told to Stop Praying over My Food at a Restaurant—in America!

[Watch]: Capitol Police Claim They Did Not Stop Kids from Singing the National Anthem in Statuary Hall; But the Video Clearly Shows Something Different

'Take Back the Rainbow:' Former Transgender, Lesbian Drug Dealer's Mandate from God

Life Legal Asks US Supreme Court to Dismiss Planned Parenthood Lawsuit

Pastor and Plumber Help East Palestine Residents, Months after Toxic Spill: 'By the Grace of God'