Project 2025’s Attack on Abortion Access and Rights

Illustration showing Trump, a gavel crushing an abortion pill, and a concerned woman with an American flag, representing the attack on abortion rights

Project 2025, led by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, is a framework that is built and backed by over 100 far-right Republican organizations in the US. The extreme framework seeks to bypass Congress under a Trump presidency. Much of the framework is anti-feminist, including its stance on abortion and reproductive rights.

If Trump is elected in November, it would mean Project 2025 would become a reality, which would result in the banning of medical abortions, such as abortions with pills. According to the Guardian, the framework says: “Conservatives in the states, and in Washington, including in the next conservative administration, should push as hard as possible to protect the unborn in every jurisdiction in America.”

Understanding Project 2025’s attack

Project 2025 has directly attacked abortions with pills, stating that fetuses should have legal rights, and seeks to expand “surveillance” of abortion while eliminating government support for the procedure. For the creators of Project 2025, abortion is not health care and should not be treated as such.

The section of the report on abortion was written by Roger Severino, who played a key role in blocking reproductive freedom as director of the Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights during the Trump administration.

Most of the anti-choice legislation is based on the idea that “from the moment of conception, every human being possesses inherent dignity and worth, and our humanity does not depend on our age, stage of development, race, or abilities.” Using such damaging “personhood” language propagates the belief that life begins at conception, which would have a catastrophic impact if it were made law. The language used can also hinder or even ban other forms of birth control and fertility treatments, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Project 2025 threatens to block abortion access through other means too, such as via Comstock. The Comstock Act of 1873 is a series of provisions in federal law that criminalize the involvement of the US postal service, its officers, or a common carrier in conveying criminal matters or certain abortion-related matters. The Project 2025 text highlights abortion pills and certain equipment needed for abortion care under Comstock. Pro-choice site Reproductive Freedom For All notes that support of the framework would mean that 50 US states would “effectively ban abortion with or without the support of Congress and the courts.”.

Emergency abortion care has also come under attack as the oppressive framework calls for the administration to stop enforcing a federal law requiring that hospitals provide emergency care to pregnant people who need an abortion. Stopping emergency abortions will endanger many lives and put people into life-threatening situations. To put things into context, every year, approximately 50,000 women in the US develop life-threatening complications during pregnancy, such as sepsis or a hemorrhage. Sepsis and blood loss are some of the most common causes of maternal deaths in the US, AP News reported.

Another incredibly concerning aspect of the text includes the tracking of private data. Republicans would conduct invasive abortion data tracking which would supply the government with sensitive information about women who require an abortion. If states fail to comply and give over the data, the government could threaten to withhold the respective state’s Medicaid dollars. The US government-run program, Medicaid, provides health insurance for lower-income households.

Overall, the text undermines a person’s right to choose and have autonomy over their own body. In a bold, unapologetic, and extremely damaging statement, Project 2025 notes: “The Secretary must ensure that all health-care programs and activities are rooted in a deep respect for innocent human life from day one until natural death: abortion and euthanasia are not health care.”

Opposing Project 2025

One of the most concerning points of Project 2025 is that one in four Americans do not know what it is. Further investigation found that one in five shifted to oppose Project 2025 when they learned about the text, according to Feminist, a global digital platform. Even Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from the extreme framework by insinuating he has “no idea who is behind it” – even though his administration’s officials wrote large sections of it.

As the election date nears, Trump’s opposition Democrat, Vice President Kamala Harris, has been bringing up Project 2025 and specifically discussing its anti-choice framework. The light shed on the contents of Project 2025 has not gone unnoticed. A poll from the watchdog group Accountable US and the Center for American Progress released in July revealed large public opposition to Project 2025’s radical anti-abortion agenda. Results found an overwhelming 83% of Americans oppose national bans on abortion and IVF – key policy components of Project 2025’s anti-reproductive rights policies.

“Extreme conservatives want to have more control over our lives and take away our freedoms. Nowhere is this more evident than in Project 2025’s anti-abortion, anti-IVF agenda. Americans clearly reject these policies. It’s no surprise that the more Americans learn about Project 2025’s far-right manifesto, the more they oppose its plans,” said Caroline Ciccone, President of Accountable US.

Taking back power

No matter what the outcome of the US elections is, at safe2choose we offer free 24-hour support with trained professionals for people looking for more information or wanting to discuss an abortion; you can access our different forms of counseling services here.

Safe2choose not only provides counselling services, but extensive resources, country profiles, blog posts, and a podcast, so whether you decide to seek an abortion or not, you can access all the information you need before making a decision.