{"id":269900,"date":"2024-10-28T19:57:04","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T02:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/?p=269900"},"modified":"2024-11-05T13:25:36","modified_gmt":"2024-11-05T21:25:36","slug":"how-project-2025-puts-americans-in-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/how-project-2025-puts-americans-in-danger\/","title":{"rendered":"How Project 2025 Puts Americans in Danger"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Policy leaders are voicing deep concerns over Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint which they say threatens essential protections for immigrants, reproductive rights, the LGBTQ+ community, and climate and healthcare measures across the U.S.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In a media briefing on October 4, hosted by <a href=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ethnic Media Services<\/a>, a panel of experts gathered to discuss the dangers Project 2025 seeks to bring. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Speakers<\/b><b><\/b><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-269908 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/10-04-24-PROJECT-2025-speakers.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"196\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/10-04-24-PROJECT-2025-speakers.jpg 800w, https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/10-04-24-PROJECT-2025-speakers-300x74.jpg 300w, https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/10-04-24-PROJECT-2025-speakers-150x37.jpg 150w, https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/10-04-24-PROJECT-2025-speakers-768x188.jpg 768w, https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/10-04-24-PROJECT-2025-speakers-672x165.jpg 672w, https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/10-04-24-PROJECT-2025-speakers-400x98.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Manjusha (Manju) P. Kulkarni<\/b>, Esq, Executive Director, AAPI Equity Alliance<\/li>\n<li><b>Sulma Arias<\/b>, Executive Director, People\u2019s Action Institute and People\u2019s Action<\/li>\n<li><b>Yvonne Gutierrez<\/b>, Chief Strategy Officer, Reproductive Freedom for All<\/li>\n<li><b>Tony Hoang<\/b>, Executive Director, Equality California<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>This 900-page document, released by the Heritage Foundation in 2022 and titled \u201cMandate for Leadership,\u201d aims to reform the government significantly, especially if Donald Trump were to secure the presidency in 2024. Political analysts suggest this initiative may steer the U.S. toward autocratic governance by undermining the rule of law, blending church and state interests, and threatening individual freedoms.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Climate and Health Impact<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Project 2025 advocates for privatizing public services, including healthcare and utilities, which already face rising costs. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to wait until these measures are implemented to see how they impact our community. It\u2019s already happening.\u201d says Sulma Arias, citing the strain on communities nationwide.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The document proposes cutting back on climate protections by eliminating disaster relief loans for small businesses, privatizing FEMA flood insurance, and dismantling agencies like the National Weather Service. Arias points to the devastation of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina as a foreboding sign of things to come if these measures take effect.<\/p>\n<p>Healthcare would also undergo drastic changes. The plan suggests cutting Medicaid benefits, raising Medicare prescription prices, including for vital medications like insulin, and repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), leaving millions uninsured. \u201cFor many people, this means the difference between life and death,\u201d warns Arias. \u201cWith record profits, United Health has denied over 250 million cases in a year, for example \u2026 What\u2019s behind this is corporate greed, and a fight over who gets to control the growing inequality in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><b>Reproductive Rights<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>If implemented, Project 2025\u2019s health proposals would limit reproductive rights significantly, according to Yvonne Gutierrez. The plan exploits the 1873 Comstock Act to ban mailing FDA-approved abortion medication nationwide, which would effectively enforce a blanket abortion ban. About 63 percent of Americans support abortion access, highlighting the public opposition to such restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal also suggests rolling back requirements for hospitals to provide emergency abortion care, allowing health providers to deny reproductive services, and tracking birth and abortion outcomes to facilitate patient prosecution, weakening HIPAA protections. Gutierrez emphasizes the impact on patients\u2019 lives, recalling a recent case where a cancer patient in Florida was denied a needed abortion due to restrictive laws.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cA patient who, after her cancer returned, learned she was pregnant and needed chemo right away, and therefore needed an abortion. No provider in Florida could provide this, because she was just over the six week mark. Already ill herself, she had to leave the state,\u201d said Gutierrez.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose in favor of reproductive restrictions talk a lot about exceptions. Exceptions don\u2019t work,\u201d she added. \u201cThis patient needed life-saving care, but because she wasn\u2019t going to die tomorrow, it didn\u2019t count \u2026 Even when lives are on the line, where doctors are too afraid to give care or patients are too afraid to seek it, it becomes too late.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><b>LGBTQ+ Rights<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Project 2025\u2019s policies would also imperil LGBTQ+ rights, says Tony Hoang, by equating gender identity with obscenity and proposing to defund providers who support transgender individuals. The blueprint suggests revoking federal funds for gender-affirming care, disbanding protections for LGBTQ+ youth in schools, and restricting educational support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProject 2025 would reverse Biden policies that protect folks from being discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace,\u201d Hoang said. \u201cThis is not just in a vacuum. As LGBTQ+ lives are threatened, so are other communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><b>Immigration Under Project 2025<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Manjusha Kulkarni warns that Project 2025 poses a serious threat to immigrant communities. Among its policies are mass deportations and warrantless searches, enabling federal agents to enter private properties to find undocumented individuals. With approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the U.S., these measures could affect millions of lives. The blueprint would also reduce family-based immigration and work visas, eliminate Temporary Protected Status, and restrict legal immigration processes.<\/p>\n<p>The document uses every opportunity to demonize immigrants, using terms like \u2018illegal aliens,\u2019 and \u2018infiltrate,\u2019\u201d said Kulkarni. \u201cAll of this serves to fan the flames of racism, and we\u2019ve seen the effects recently with false claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Polls indicate that Americans have mixed views on immigration reform; while a majority favor a path to citizenship and the employment of refugees, roughly half support a border wall and deportations.<\/p>\n<h3><b>The Push for Power<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Polls indicate that most Americans oppose Project 2025\u2019s controversial proposals, such as replacing career officials with political appointees and eliminating the Department of Education. Kulkarni believes these plans ultimately serve to consolidate power in response to America\u2019s shifting demographics.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In our democracy, if you can\u2019t do something when it\u2019s unpopular, you can do it by taking away the rights of individuals through executive action \u2026 It\u2019s going to take all of us to fight that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With implications for core freedoms and protections across the nation, Project 2025 has sparked growing alarm among policy leaders and advocates who argue that it could fundamentally reshape the landscape of American rights and governance.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Images provided by Ethnic Media Services.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Policy leaders are voicing deep concerns over Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint which they say threatens essential protections for immigrants, reproductive rights, the LGBTQ+ community, and climate and healthcare measures across the U.S.\u00a0 In a media briefing on October 4, hosted by Ethnic Media Services, a panel of experts gathered to discuss the dangers&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/how-project-2025-puts-americans-in-danger\/\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":269907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64189,5,63954,72,1848,4786],"tags":[64209,1019,63207,15460,3066,8787,2382,5209,64208,5210,39,4892,15522,63206,3231,3232,64204,64202,64206,63241,64203,64207,64205],"class_list":["post-269900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-current-affairs","category-ethnic-media-services","category-politics-current-affairs","category-society","category-u-s-news","tag-mandate-for-leadership","tag-immigration","tag-aapi-equity-alliance","tag-abortion","tag-affordable-care-act","tag-climate","tag-donald-trump","tag-ems","tag-equality-california","tag-ethnic-media-services","tag-healthcare","tag-immigrants","tag-lgbtq","tag-manjusha-p-kulkarni","tag-medicaid","tag-medicare","tag-peoples-action-institute-and-peoples-action","tag-project-2025","tag-reproductive-freedom-for-all","tag-reproductive-rights","tag-sulma-arias","tag-tony-hoang","tag-yvonne-gutierrez"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}