Editor's Note: This series examines the MAGA effort to transform the government through a process called Project 2025. Lean to the Left writers CJ Waldron and V. Susan Hutchinson explore how allies of Donald Trump hope to increase the power of the presidency, eliminate career government positions, and cede regulatory responsibility to the individual states, ignoring the failed Articles of Confederation. It is critical for voters to understand key parts of this manifesto, in context with current and future GOP proposals, before voting in November. The statements in Project 25 are, at best, misleading with outright lies, twisted interpretations of the Constitution, and personal opinions sprinkled throughout.
Abortion is just one of the hot button topics for voters in Project 2025. This article is intended to educate voters on the potential future of abortion in America. We'll discuss the context of the word abortion as used in Project 2025, provide data that challenges their proposals, and put "banning abortion" in a broader context that also discusses the potential consequences of their actions.
Project 2025: Abortion
Voters should not rely on bullet points about Project 2025 posted on social media sites to educate themselves. Those quick lists are intended to stir up emotions, not explain what is in the document or how the “Christian” minority wants to shove their culture down everyone’s throats.
As you will see below, these bulleted lists only point to a planning document to lay blame. They are also fodder for Trump and MAGA politicians to say “that’s not what we are saying,” thus making it appear that they are not the extremists they are, and possibly sway some undecided voters.
Project 2025 does not specifically call for a national abortion ban nor use the words “restrict access to abortion and contraception.” So why are there so many claiming the document calls for a federal ban on abortion and how are these terms presented in the document?
The word “abortion” is mentioned 12 times in Project 2025, none next to the word “ban”. In the forward alone, it is there three times. The last paragraph using the term abortion puts it in context of “pro-life and pro-family policies”, and discusses the need to use federal power for “robust protections for the unborn” with bans on federal funding for abortion. The only “solution” proposed is to explore alternative options, especially adoption, which should receive federal and state support. The type of that support is not stated, but assumed to be financial.
Congressional Bill H.R. 431 – Life at Conception Act
This bill was introduced in the House January 20, 2023 and is currently pending in the Judiciary Committee.Its stated goal is “To implement equal protection for the right to life of each born and preborn human person, and pursuant to the duty and authority of the Congress, including Congress’ power under Article I, Section 8 to make necessary and proper laws, and Congress’ power under Section 5 of the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Congress hereby declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being. However, nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the prosecution of any woman for the death of her unborn child.”
The bill defines a human person/being to include “each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.”
This bill does not call for a national abortion ban. Rather, it tries to define morally, not scientifically, when an assemblance of living tissue can be called a human being. It uses an amendment created to define American citizenship for former slaves to justify any legislative actions taken to protect these newly defined “humans.”
This is just one glaring example of twisting the Constitution to support an ultra-conservative agenda and imply our founding document and its amendments support their new vision for the country.
Two parts of the 14th Amendment are important to know and put into context for this new definition of life.
It states “No State shall make or enforce any laws which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal of the laws.” It concludes by saying “The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.”
In short, states can pass legislation about citizenship, but at the federal level, Congress has the power to question the legality of their actions, decide if it fits the description of a citizen per the 14th Amendment and take appropriate actions to overturn state laws related to citizenship.
Once fertilized embryos are declared humans conceived in the United States, they become citizens if H.R. 431 becomes law. Citizenship then comes within the boundaries of the 14th Amendment. An ultra-conservative “Christian” based Congress could then decide that legal abortion implemented at the state level is unconstitutional and force it to be overturned. States rights are important to the GOP, but only for states that fully support its agenda.
Essentially, this bill would become a jumping off point for a more specifically defined national ban on abortion without specifically stating that is the intended purpose.
Adoption is the Solution?
According to the Guttmacher Institute, the Dobbs decision to overturn Roe v. Wade resulted in a total of 1,037,000 abortions in 2023 in states without total bans, which is an 11 percent increase in abortions since 2020. The data does not include self-managed (i.e. using medication) abortions and the institute suggests these have increased as well.
The most recent information on adoption and foster care comes from an internet search and shows 2021 data published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The number of children in foster care is rising with over 391,000 in foster homes. A little less than one third are eligible for adoption and wait three or more years to be adopted. Of those adopted, 29 percent were under nine with an average age of six. Financially, 93 percent of parents who adopted needed subsidies or post adoption services, which are costly.
Of the children in foster care, 9 percent aged out of the system with no financial support, 25 percent did not have a high school diploma or GED, putting into question their employment possibilities and increasing the possibility they would enter the criminal justice system.
What happens once abortion is banned in every state?
Actions Have Consequences
As you can see, connecting the proposal from Project 2025 calling for protecting the unborn along with Congress’s plan to redefine humans while creating a convoluted way to enact a disguised national abortion ban using a Constitutional Amendment gives voters a clearer understanding of what is at stake. The combined strategy gives Trump, and others who claim to not support a national ban, cover for traditional Republicans or independent voters who want abortion only decided at the state level.
If H.R. 431 becomes law, it will not just affect abortion rights; it will bring contraception that impedes the implantation of a “person” into it as well as changing the rules about IVF. The next logical step from this would be to ban contraception that prevents an ovum from dropping out of the ovaries, most likely by creating legislation that now calls them “potential” human beings that need protection.
As far as the proposed Project 2025 solution to all those hundreds of thousands of babies who will now be born, there is no plan on how adoption and foster care systems will handle the increase or where all these adoptive parents will come from, but maybe that is by design. The “Christian” right in America is all about doing what they want with no care for those who are affected by their actions or the impact to American society.
Does this mean when the time comes for addressing the consequences of banning abortion nationwide there will be forced adoption? Or is the plan to merely let these children languish in a system where many will remain until they age out before going into to a new society that cares more about them before birth and turns a blind eye when they struggle to survive?
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