It seems like a new age term but “personhood” has been around for awhile. And quietly Senators inserted it into the tax bill that was passed on Friday night by the Senate Finance Committee. But personhood has little to do with taxes and a lot to do with abortion. Here’s what happened: the new tax code has a provision that gives a tax break for fetuses. Parents could sign up their yet-to-be born child for a college savings plan (called 529’s) that allows for tax savings. Here’s where it gets strange. By listing the unborn child as a beneficiary of the savings account, he or she would automatically have rights, which would make it a crime to abort. Here’s more explanation from The Huffington Post.
“The tax bill’s language is part of a broader strategy employed by the White House and Congressional Republicans to chip away at Roe v. Wade, says Sarah Lipton-Lubet, vice president for reproductive health and rights at the National Partnership for Women and Families. For years, anti-abortion activists have tried (and mostly failed) to get “personhood” laws passed that would give embryos and fetuses rights ― ultimately making it a crime to abort them.”
“There’s a good reason the GOP tax bills are hiding personhood in an arcane provision. Despite a decades-long push by conservative Christians to create fetal personhood, the U.S. Supreme Court has not affirmed it in its abortion rulings. Nor have voters passed ballot initiatives creating fetal personhood, even in deep-red states such as North Dakota and Mississippi, even as it has appeared with more frequency in recent years.”