What You Need to Know About Sexual & Reproductive Health and Project 2025

Project 2025 makes many harmful directives. The key proposals related to sexual & reproductive health include:

• Celebrating the overturning of Roe v. Wade and calling for rigorous enforcement of federal bans on abortion funding.
• Proposing that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) focus on studying abortion risks and eliminate any programs “that undermine family formation” (454-455). 
• Directing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct comprehensive reporting on abortions, including detailed data on gestational age, reasons, and the pregnant person’s state of residence. This would require an enormous administrative burden and invasive questioning, likely resulting in data that aids the criminalization of both patients and providers.
• Restructuring the Title X family planning program through HHS. Following the proposal would cause a drastic decrease in funding for Title X health clinics that provide services such as contraception, STI and cancer screenings, and routine gynecological care.
• Proposing that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reverse the approval of mifepristone and misoprostol and restrict their access through mail and telemedicine. These are the two medications used most commonly for medication abortions in the US. Comprehensive reviews by the FDA consistently find that the pills are safe and effective.
• Redefining abortion as not health care. Project 2025 states that “abortion should be clearly defined as only those procedures that intentionally end an unborn child’s life” (455). The document aims to separate abortion from miscarriage management, despite the overlap in the drugs used, and from treatments for ectopic pregnancies, despite the affects that abortion bans have.
• Directing the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to eliminate coverage of emergency contraception (EC) under its preventive services guidelines, falsely equating EC to medication abortion pills.

Enacting the policy changes in Project 2025 related to sexual and reproductive health would significantly endanger women’s health in the short and long term. Particularly affected would be women in rural areas, low-income women, women of color, and LGBTQIA+ people. The changes proposed in Project 2025 would:

• Reduce access to medication abortion and emergency contraception  
• Construct additional barriers to treatment for miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, and other pregnancy complications
• Restrict vital funds for community health clinics
• Delay lifesaving care and increase health care costs  
• Worsen maternal health outcomes
• Increase economic and social strain for women

Project 2025 would represent a significant shift in sexual & reproductive health care, with broad consequences for women’s health and especially disastrous effects for marginalized people. If Project 2025 is not the future that you want, exercise your right to vote in upcoming elections. Federal policies that increase access to comprehensive sexual & reproductive health care, decrease health disparities, and promote informed choices are what Americans deserve. Your vote could prevent Project 2025 from becoming a reality and instead usher in an administration that supports women’s health. See our 4Her2024 campaign for voter tips and important election updates.