A panel of local experts gathered at the Santa Fe brewery Boxcar on Sept. 26 for a fundraiser titled News and Brews. Hosted by New Mexico Political Report editor Matthew Reichbach, local reporters and writers weighed in on what Project 2025 — the governing roadmap by the conservative Heritage Foundation — entails and how it could drastically affect New Mexico’s reproductive health clinics, LGBTQ+ rights and the local environment.
“When I first read the document, I assumed it was the usual rhetoric that many conservatives tend to stick with, but to my surprise, it was far greater than that,” said Susan Dunlap, a reporter who specializes in reproductive and women’s rights.
According to numerous sources, official documents and public sites, if fully implemented, Project 2025 would effectively ban abortion nationwide.
The 920-page document details how the project would completely transform federal government functions. Agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services, would be effectively turned into surveillance tools that could notify government officials about anyone who undergoes a medical procedure involving a fetus.
Not only would Project 2025 affect and restrict individuals’ rights to bodily autonomy, but it would also drastically impact some of New Mexico’s sacred land.
“I think what I found most surprising is that there are policies in Project 2025 that want to undo everything that is popular among Republicans,” said Hannah Grover, an environmental reporter who works for the New Mexico Political Report. “For example, the 45Q Tax Credit is supposed to capture emissions and get projects like this off the ground, but it wants to get rid of that altogether.”
The 45Q Tax Credit, according to the Federation of American Scientists, is a program that encourages the development and deployment of eco-friendly technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to promoting and producing jobs, the plan also provides federal protection for sacred and indigenous sites across New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.
Project 2025 has been a controversial topic and a center point in the 2024 presidential debate. Former President Donald Trump has attempted to distance himself from the project, claiming he had no knowledge or affiliation with those plans. However, the document mentions Trump over 300 times and Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, has also stated that Trump knew about the plan and that he would support it if elected.
