(from Andra Watkins: “How Project 25 Will Ruin Your Life”)
If you live in a red state, you’re already closer to living in the America envisioned by the framers of Project 2025. States like Florida and Texas haven’t adopted Project 2025 completely, but they are well on their way.
An incremental chipping at rights and freedoms is a longstanding Republican tactic. They attack reproductive rights by making it harder to get an abortion. Then, they ban abortion. Next, they go after IVF. Finally, they use the Comstock Act to ban shipment of all contraception.
If Republicans are given unfettered power, they won’t need to care about subtlety. They can implement much of Project 2025’s policy proposals with ruthless confidence on Day 1 of a new Republican administration. Who will stop them?
That’s why it is crucial to talk to everyone we know about Project 2025. They may roll their eyes and say, “That can’t happen in America.” But so much is ALREADY happening.
When people tell you they haven’t heard of Project 2025, ask them these questions:
Have you heard of abortion bans?
Abortion is currently banned in 14 states. Four more states have contested or paused bans. Banning abortion nationwide is a stated goal of Project 2025.
Have you heard of attacks of IVF and contraception?
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos are “extrauterine children,” thus pausing IVF statewide. Multiple red states have proposed laws limiting IUDs and Plan B “morning after” pills. The Comstock Act would prohibit mailing of ANY contraceptive, including hormonal birth control and male condoms. Only 13 states and DC have enshrined the right to contraception in their state constitutions.
Project 2025 recommends attacking all of these avenues to “protect life from conception to natural death.”
Do schools in your area have book bans?
So far in 2024, Texas has banned more than 800 books. Florida is a close second with 566 banned titles. Tennessee ranks third with 349 banned books. Readers might be surprised at other states with book bans.
Project 2025’s goal to decimate anything the framers deem “pornographic” is a big driver of book bans. Red states are leading the charge to roll back access to books and information.
Does your state have trans bans?
Twenty-two states have passed laws that make it impossible for transgender youth to receive gender-affirming care. Florida has extended those attacks to trans adults. Several states have proposed trans bans for people up to age 26.
Project 2025 calls for strict binary definition of sex as male and female. These attacks on gender-affirming care are just the beginning of red state implementation of Project 2025’s vision.
Does your state or any locality within your state restrict the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community?
As of today, the ACLU is tracking 484 separate bills targeting LGBTQ rights. (Here is an interactive map.) Many of these bills use Project 2025-specific language like “re-definition of sex to be male and female only” and “using the bathroom of one’s gender assigned at birth.”
Have you heard about the use of militias to police our border?
Texas uses its state militia program, Operation Lone Star, to police the border with Mexico. Far-right groups from around the country are organizing to assist them at the border. Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, has been in a legal fight with the Biden administration over border policing.
Project 2025 calls for draconian actions against immigrants. From detention camps to deportation, Texas is a somber preview of what Project 2025 will implement nationwide.
Have you heard proposals to repeal no-fault divorce?
Four red states (Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Louisiana) have introduced legislation to end no-fault divorce or have incorporated it into the state Republican Party platform.
Project 2025 defines the family as “one man married to one unrelated woman with children.” The framers believe America is failing because the family is under attack. They want to force people to stay married, even in situations where one spouse is unsafe, because they believe marriage is an eternal covenant between God, the man, and the woman.
Have you heard of laws that restrict female state-to-state travel?
Several states have enacted partial travel bans for women, including parts of Texas, Idaho, and Tennessee. Alabama’s attorney general has talked openly about restricting out-of-state travel for women who may be pregnant.
Project 2025’s goal is to ban abortion nationwide, but in the meantime, state-to-state travel bans keep red state women from traveling to blue states to procure abortions. If they are successful in banning abortion nationwide, they will target international travel for women who may be pregnant.
These are all policy recommendations Project 2025 will implement nationwide.
It is vital that Americans understand: Project 2025 is already happening in many red states. Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee and more are the framers of Project 2025’s vision for our collective future.
Project 2025 is almost 1,000 pages long. They’ve only started restricting our freedoms. Please keep talking about Project 2025. Use this newsletter as a resource to explain how parts of Project 2025 are already the law in many states and communities. Few will want to live in the country outlined in Project 2025.
(Andra Watkins: “How Project 25 Will Ruin Your Life”)
