Does the conservative "Project 2025" initiative to reshape the U.S. government call for a ban on abortion and contraceptives, increased retirement age, cuts in Social Security and Medicare benefits, plus elimination of overtime pay and of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found these claims, posted on Facebook, to be false by reviewing the Heritage Foundation's 887-page policy agenda. While the Project 2025 agenda would make sweeping changes to the federal government if implemented, it does not include the measures described.
The claims appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on July 5, 2024, under the on-screen title "Project 2025 PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION PROJECT." The post's caption said:
This is Project 2025. Anyone who is even contemplating voting in 2024 should read this list.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri Jul 12 12:32:34 2024 UTC)
The post provided no evidence to substantiate its claim that these policy changes would be implemented as a part of Project 2025's "Mandate for Leadership."
Lead Stories reviewed seven of the claims found in the social media post. You can find them below:
1. Complete ban on abortions without exceptions
This is false. There's nothing in the document to suggest a "complete ban" on abortions. However, Project 2025 does say (page 6):
Conservatives should ardently pursue ... pro-life and pro-family policies while recognizing the many women who find themselves in immensely difficult and often tragic situations and the heroism of every choice to become a mother. Alternative options to abortion, especially adoption, should receive federal and state support.
The proposed policy would end the "use of public monies ... to facilitate abortion" for members of the military (page 104) and also says, "The U.S. government should not and cannot promote or fund abortion in international programs or multilateral organizations" (page 192).
2. Ban contraceptives
This is false. General restrictions or bans on traditional contraceptives are not mentioned. However, Project 2025 does recommend that ulipristal acetate (ella®), a type of emergency contraception sometimes referred to as the week-after-pill, be removed as a "covered contraception method" under the Affordable Care Act (page 485).
Additionally, page 457 of the plan also says:
Abortion pills pose the single greatest threat to unborn children in a post-Roe world. The rate of chemical abortion in the U.S. has increased by more than 150 percent in the past decade; more than half of annual abortions in the U.S. are chemical rather than surgical.
3. Raise the retirement age
This is false. Project 2025 does not mention raising the official retirement age, which can be 62, 66 or 67, depending on the year of birth, according to the Social Security Administration.
4. Cut Social Security
This is false. There is no mention of cutting Social Security in the report.
5. Cut Medicare
This is false. There's no mention of cutting Medicare funding or benefits. However, Project 2025 blames the federal deficit on Medicare, along with Medicaid (page 283):
The first year that Medicare spending was visible on the books was 1967. From that point on through 2020--according to the American Main Street Initiative's analysis of official federal tallies--Medicare and Medicaid combined cost $17.8 trillion, while our combined federal deficits over that same span were $17.9 trillion. In essence, our deficit problem is a Medicare and Medicaid problem.
The policy document aims to achieve cost savings through "Empowering Patient Choices and Provider Autonomy." Page 463 of the plan says:
Increase Medicare beneficiaries' control of their health care.
Patients are best positioned to determine the value of health care services, working with their health care providers. They also benefit from increased choice of doctors, hospitals, and insurance plans. Access to reliable information with respect to physicians, hospitals, and insurers is therefore essential.
6. Eliminate the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
This is false. However, Project 2025 does want to curb the power of many federal agencies like OSHA. Page 886 of the plan says:
They [presidential appointees] must rein in agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which the Biden Administration weaponized to attempt to force COVID-19 vaccine mandates on 84 million Americans through their workplaces.
7. Eliminate overtime wages
This is false. However, Project 2025 does propose reforms that could change how overtime is calculated and also provide an option for paid time-off, as part of a plan of "Refocusing Labor Regulation on the Good of the Family." Page 587 says:
Working Families Flexibility Act would allow employees in the private sector the ability to choose between receiving time-and-a-half pay or accumulating time-and-a-half paid time off (a choice that many public sector workers already have). For example, if an individual worked two hours of overtime every week for a year, he or she could accumulate four weeks of paid time off to use for paid family leave, vacation, or any reason.
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Other fact check agencies have also reviewed similar claims, including VERIFY (here and here), The Washington Post and The Dispatch.
