What Tomorrow Brings: Women’s Health in Project 2025

Project 2025, considered by many to be the policy framework for the second Trump Administration, was produced by the Heritage Foundation as a means of instilling hardline conservative values into the United States government.

[Project 2025] has widespread implications for all aspects of Americans’ lives–from day-to-day living to lifelong impacts.

Current estimates hold that Project 2025 has been 47% implemented thus far in Trump’s term, with more to come. Women’s health is not the only realm of American lives that are at risk, but they do have some of the most direct and publicized results.

This article aims to share what has already been done, what may be in the future, and what can be done now–and in the future–to stave off as many negative impacts as possible.

Art by Shea Davis

What Has Been Done?

Abortion policy is one of the most contentious topics in the U.S. political system. From the devolution of law-making to the states in 2022 to the strict (and potentially life-threatening) laws that came from the Dobbs decision, Project 2025-esque policies had already been instated prior to Trump’s re-election in 2024.

Factually speaking, Project 2025 can completely rework how women’s health is both seen and approached in the United States. It is becoming increasingly taboo, and topics like reproductive health are being approached with significantly more apprehension. The Center for American Progress has listed some of the things the Trump Administration has already accomplished in terms of hindering women’s health, and here are some of them:

• Gutting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), thus slashing public health programs. Furthermore, many of the people terminated from the CDC were from the Division of Reproductive Health.

  • This decision will “make it more dangerous to be pregnant in the United States.”

• Receiving advising from people who promote misinformation. (Or promote misinformation themselves.)

  • HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr is infamous for perpetuating misinformation about vaccines.

What Is To Come?

Devastatingly, Project 2025 outlines goals that far outreach what has already been done. Note that the goal in this paper is not to fearmonger or scare, but to make readers aware of what is to come and to encourage them to mobilize against such acts.

Beyond reporting on what has already happened, the Center for American Progress has also made note of what is to come, or what the implications are of things that have already happened. Here are some things to keep an eye on:

• Trump’s FY 2026 budget proposal would cut the HHS budget by approximately 26%

  • This would significantly cut down on HHS’s capacity to provide preventative care such as cancer screenings.

  • It would also eliminate funding for “state maternal mortality review committees,” which analyze state data and advise on how to prevent pregnancy-related deaths.

  • With this budget cut, you can also expect to see cuts on Alzheimer’s, menopause, uterine fibroids, and pregnancy research.

• Budget cuts, Executive Orders, and other Administration decisions will have a disproportionate affect on women’s health.

  • Programs that would alleviate both air and water pollution have been slashed.

  • Extreme heat, air pollution, water pollution, and other environmental effects can cause heart disease, respiratory disease, and mental health conditions, all things that can be disastrous towards anyone but particularly pregnant women.

Art by Shea Davis

The Guttmacher Institute takes a more contraception-focused approach to analyzing how Project 2025 can wreck women’s lives. In October 2024, they broke down the direct goals of Project 2025 and elaborated on them based on the following seven categories:

1. Medication Abortion

   1. Project 2025 would effectively ban telehealth prescriptions for mifepristone, thus clamping down on access for women who cannot go to brick-and-mortar clinics.

   2. It also seeks to revoke the FDA’s approval of mifepristone. 

2. Abortion Access

   1. Authors of the project implore Congress to codify the Hyde and Weldon Amendments into law. 

      1. The Hyde Amendment restricts the use of federal money for abortion services and only provides for a few exceptions, such as rape, incest, or if the pregnancy threatens the pregnant person’s life. 

      2. The Weldon Amendment protects any institution that “refuse[s] to ‘provide, pay for, provide coverage for, or refer for abortions.” 

         1. As of July 2021, both of these amendments have been included in fiscal bills since 2005. 

3. Abortion Care in Emergency Situations

   1. Authors of Project 2025 want to “dismantle the abortion protections provided under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.” This would impact departments that get funding from Medicare. 

4. Misinformation, Disinformation, and Stigma

   1. Just one example of this campaign includes Project 2025 turning the Department of Health & Human Services into the Department of Life, thus emphasizing anti-abortion messaging and stigma 

5. Weaponization of Federal Medicaid Dollars 

   1. Project 2025 wants “Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to encourage states to eliminate Planned Parenthood facilities from their state Medicaid programs.” 

      1. It also calls for financial retaliation against states which do not abide by federal anti-abortion guidelines. 

6. Attacks on Contraception 

   1. There is a two-fold mission against contraception. 

      1. Project 2025 seeks to reinstate a “domestic gag rule” against healthcare providers who receive Title X funding, thus prohibiting them from providing abortion referrals. It would also demand that they are separate financially and physically from “abortion-related activities, including counseling.” 

      2. It also wants to make it easier for any employer to exclude contraceptive coverage from their employees’ health insurance plans. 

7. Reproductive Health Worldwide 

   1. Project 2025 seeks to prevent non-US NGOs from getting US financial health assistance if they have used prior funding on “abortion services, information, counseling, referrals, or advocacy.” 

      1. The Trump Administration has also made threats to burn approximately $10 million worth of contraceptives intended for women in low-income countries.

What Can Be Done?

We understand that the future of women’s healthcare in the United States seems bleak. Hunkering down and just braving it through attacks on women’s healthcare is in of itself a tenacious task, but if you want to push for better, here are some recommendations: 

1. Find your Senator(s) and contact them regarding your beliefs about Project 2025. 

   1. If you agree with other parts of Project 2025, be sure to include that in your message—women’s healthcare shouldn’t be a partisan issue. There is power in numbers and emails, phone calls, or tangible letters are all valuable when it comes to proving to our elected officials that women’s health should not be trampled on.

2. Study up on your rights under Title IX, Title X, and other federal statutes. Educate people on them once you have a good grasp on them. 

   1. Title IX (“Title Nine”) prohibits against sex-based discrimination in education programs or anything that receives federal funding.

   2. Title X (“Title Ten”) provides funding for family planning services in the United States. 

3. Support female candidates who are running for office. 

   1. Emily’s List provides a list of Democratic & pro-choice people they are endorsing for various offices across the country. View it here.

      1. Once these candidates make it into office, hold them to their campaign promises!

There are countless more things you can do and actions you can take, but remember to take care of yourself first and foremost. Action is best paired with self-care, so don’t be afraid to turn off the news or sign off of social media; there will still be action items when you get back. 

At OvaNews, we cannot possibly cover all the news stories coming out regarding women’s health but, if there is a story you are particularly interested in, do not hesitate to send it to us via our “Community Submission” form on our “Give Back” page! Click here to access that link.