PROJECT 2025’S
ABORTION BAN
AGENDA
You’ve probably heard about Project 2025
It’s the proposed policy platform for a right-wing presidency. But what exactly does it include, and what will it mean for our lives?
We read through the entire 920 page playbook so you don’t have to. It details plans to completely ban abortion nationwide without exceptions, restrict access to birth control, defund Planned Parenthood, track pregnancy and abortion data, and gut federal protections for lifesaving emergency health care in hospitals.
Project 2025 explicitly states that abortion is “not health care”
p. 450
Here’s how extreme conservatives armed with the Project 2025 plan could attack our rights:
Adopt a strictly anti-abortion, “fetal personhood” doctrine across government agencies
The government would grant full rights to fertilized eggs—meaning people seeking abortions and their doctors could be prosecuted for murder, even when patients’ own lives are at risk [p. 450]
This could have severe consequences for maternal health in the case of life-threatening but common pregnancy complications like ectopic pregnancies, preeclampsia, and sepsis, and also put fertility treatments like IVF in jeopardy.
Likely lead to preventable maternal deaths by forcing medical professionals to delay or deny life-saving treatment to pregnant patients out of fear of criminal prosecution
Eliminate the current Reproductive Healthcare Access Task Force that drives efforts to protect access to reproductive healthcare services and defend reproductive rights. [p. 489]
Create a government agency to execute and monitor compliance with Project 2025’s extreme anti-abortion agenda [p. 489]
Ban abortion nationwide, without exceptions for rape, incest, or risk to a woman’s life
Enforce the Comstock Act, a national abortion ban dating from the 1800s, before women even had the right to vote. Without Roe v. Wade’s protections, the law can be enforced to completely ban abortion nationwide, without exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the woman. [p. 562]
Because Comstock is an existing law, Congress doesn't even have to vote on it. The President and the Justice Department have the power to ban abortion in every state, overnight, with a single stroke of a pen.
Reverse the 24-year-old FDA approval of safe, effective, and widely used doctor-prescribed medication abortion such as Mifepristone that are used early in pregnancy and to manage miscarriages [p. 458-459]
Use the Department of Justice to prosecute doctors who prescribe medication abortion [p.459]
This would disproportionately gut abortion access for low-income populations, people of color, and people living in areas with limited access to local healthcare services
"We don't need a federal ban when we have Comstock on the books."
-Jonathan F. Mitchel, former Texas Solicitor General and counsel to Donald Trump
Surveil women to track pregnancies and abortions
Direct the Department of Health and Human Services to collect personal data on pregnancies to monitor for abortions [p.455]
States would be compelled to report data on abortions to the HHS, violating medical and legal confidentiality between patients and doctors (HIPAA)
Cut federal funds for states that do not submit data, jeopardizing other needs including disaster relief, education, and infrastructure
Restrict access to birth control
Roll back access to birth control by undoing the requirement that insurers offer it as part of health care plans [p. 484]
Classify emergency contraception—the “morning after pill” that prevents implantation of a fertilized egg after unprotected sex, also known as Plan B—as an “abortion” (it’s not) [p. 485]
Restrict options for patients to manage medical conditions such as endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and menstrual disorders.
Increase out-of-pocket costs for birth control, disproportionately impacting low-income women
Eliminate Planned Parenthood and other healthcare services
Defund Planned Parenthood and other reproductive healthcare providers, decimating millions of Americans’ access to basic healthcare services including cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, prenatal care, birth control, and general health exams [p. 472]
Particularly target Medicaid patients and underserved communities where access to healthcare is limited [p. 472-473]
This could lead to delays in treatment, missed preventive care, increased rates of undiagnosed and untreated health conditions, and overall poorer health outcomes
Promotes the introduction and passage of the Protecting Life and Taxpayers Act in Congress, which would completely defund and likely shut down abortion providers across the country [p. 472]
Redirect federal Title X funding from legitimate reproductive health care providers to right-wing organizations that intentionally mislead patients and operate unlicensed clinics with no health and safety standards [p. 471, 491]
Promote anti-abortion hospital guidance and medical training
Allow hospitals to deny patients lifesaving care, including abortion, in an emergency by utilizing extremist anti-abortion interpretations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) [p. 473]
Force medical schools to restrict training in abortion, reducing access to safe and effective care [p. 486]
We don’t have to guess about what conservative extremists want for abortion access across the country—we have the Project 2025 blueprint for rolling back our rights.