Project 2025 Democracy Is Born With Bloodshed And Toil, But Dies With A Thunderous Applause

"Democracy is not a spectator sport." - Marian Wright Edelman

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson

"Democracy dies in darkness." - The Washington Post

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill

"A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience." - John Dewey

"Democracy is fragile and must be protected. It requires constant care and effort from all of us." - Barack Obama

"The health of a democracy is measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens." - Alexis de Tocqueville

"Elections alone do not a democracy make." - Barack Obama

"A functioning democracy is fragile. It requires not just adherence to the law but to the spirit of the law." - Joe Biden

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." - Winston Churchill

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." - John Adams

"Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments." - Alexander Hamilton

"Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths." - James Madison

"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." - Benjamin Franklin

"An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others." - Thomas Jefferson

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." - Abraham Lincoln

"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money." - Alexis de Tocqueville

"Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal." - Aristotle

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill

"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism." - George Washington

Project 2025's Vision for Women's Reproductive Health

Overview and Goals

Project 2025, developed by the Heritage Foundation, promotes policies that seek to redefine reproductive health through a conservative framework. The initiative focuses on protecting "life from conception to natural death" and aims to reshape federal programs and policies around this ethos. Rooted in a philosophy that opposes the framing of abortion as healthcare, Project 2025 proposes extensive reforms across several federal agencies, particularly the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Rebranding and Reorientation of HHS

The Project suggests that HHS be rebranded as the "Department of Life," a name previously coined by former HHS Secretary Alex Azar during the Trump administration. This rebranding aligns with the Project's mission to promote policies that oppose abortion, favor traditional family structures, and restrict funding and support for reproductive services that do not align with its vision. In this proposed framework, HHS would "explicitly reject the notion that abortion is healthcare" and prioritize conservative family values in its operations.

Post-Dobbs Strategy for Abortion Restrictions

Following the 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which allows states to set their own abortion laws, Project 2025 encourages the next administration to enact "robust protections for the unborn." Although it does not call for a federal abortion ban, the Project recommends a comprehensive framework that includes replacing Biden's Reproductive Healthcare Access Task Force with a "pro-life" agency dedicated to enforcing policies that support its stance on abortion and reproductive health.

Contraception and Family Planning

The Project proposes major changes to existing contraception and family planning policies. It advocates for rescinding the Title X Family Planning Program provisions that provide funding for contraceptive services and emphasizes the need for family planning services to promote marriage. Additionally, Project 2025 seeks to reinstate Trump-era "religious and moral exemptions" to the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandates, including exemptions for emergency contraception like Plan B, which it labels as an abortifacient. These policies would effectively reduce access to a wide range of contraceptives and limit the role of federal programs in providing family planning support.

Abortion Pills and Comstock Act Enforcement

The Project calls for strict enforcement of the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law banning the mailing of materials used to facilitate abortion. Project 2025 suggests reviving the Act to prevent the distribution of abortion pills and related medical equipment through the U.S. Postal Service. This policy would criminalize the mailing of abortion-inducing drugs, potentially cutting off access for individuals in states where abortion is restricted. The Project frames this approach as a national standard for protecting "the unborn" and recommends criminal penalties for violators.

Regulation and Oversight of Reproductive Health Practices

The Project recommends that federal agencies, particularly the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), reevaluate the safety and ethics of abortion-inducing medications like mifepristone and misoprostol. It also encourages the CDC to promote natural family planning methods, such as menstrual tracking apps, over traditional contraceptive methods. Additionally, the Project would require HHS to mandate state-level reporting on all abortion cases, including details on gestational age, maternal residence, and abortion method, in an effort to track reproductive health data more closely.

Restructuring Adolescent Health and Sex Education

Project 2025 advises the federal government to reduce funding and support for what it perceives as the promotion of "high-risk sexual behaviors" among adolescents. It opposes federal influence on sex education curricula, advocating for a more "decentralized" approach to health education at the state level. The Project argues that HHS's involvement in sex education creates an undue monopoly, favoring conservative values in adolescent health programs and reducing federal oversight.

Conclusion

Project 2025's proposed policies for women's reproductive health reflect a significant shift toward restricting access to abortion, contraception, and reproductive health services. By reorienting federal programs and agencies to align with conservative principles, the Project aims to influence reproductive healthcare on a national scale, potentially limiting healthcare options for women across the United States. Critics argue that these policies could disproportionately affect low-income and marginalized communities by reducing access to vital reproductive health resources and information.