Colorado Gov. Jared Polis took the stage during the third night of the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, and used the platform to attack the conservative Project 2025 agenda – including some false claims about the document’s contents.
The theme of the program was “Freedom,” with Democratic presenters tying the theme to abortion rights as well as to other issues like gay marriage and school book bans.
In his three-minute address, Polis took aim at Project 2025, the conservative agenda created by the Heritage Foundation that has become a political weapon for Democrats. Some see the document as a possible roadmap for a second Trump presidency, while Trump has tried to distance himself from the plan.
“Project 2025 would turn the entire federal government and bureaucracy into a massive machine,” Polis said before the DNC crowd. “It would weaponize it to control our reproductive and personal choices.”
Polis’s false claims
Project 2025 and 'the only legitimate family'
Polis made multiple false or misleading claims about the policy plan, including some that had been thrust into the national spotlight by VP Kamala Harris and then debunked.
At one point during his speech, Polis, who is gay, mentioned a section of Project 2025 – page 451, to be exact – about family structure.
“Page 451 says the only legitimate family is a married mother and father, where only the father works,” Polis said, before removing a page from an enlarged copy of the document with the promise to “share it with undecided voters.”
But that claim is not true. It appears to be in reference to social media posts with similar language that were spread widely this summer, but not the document’s actual text.
Page 451 of the Project 2025 text does promote “policies that support the formation of stable, married, nuclear families,” but mentions neither “the only legitimate family” nor stay-at-home mothers.
Here is the full text from the section in question (and the entirety of the plan can be found here):
“Goal #3: Promoting Stable and Flourishing Married Families. Families comprised of a married mother, father, and their children are the foundation of a well-ordered nation and healthy society. Unfortunately, family policies and programs under President Biden’s HHS are fraught with agenda items focusing on “LGBTQ+ equity,” subsidizing single-motherhood, disincentivizing work, and penalizing marriage. These policies should be repealed and replaced by policies that support the formation of stable, married, nuclear families.
Working fathers are essential to the well-being and development of their children, but the United States is experiencing a crisis of fatherlessness that is ruining our children’s futures. In the overwhelming number of cases, fathers insulate children from physical and sexual abuse, financial difficulty or poverty, incarceration, teen pregnancy, poor educational outcomes, high school failure, and a host of behavioral and psychological problems. By contrast, homes with non-related “boyfriends” present are among the most dangerous place for a child to be. HHS should prioritize married father engagement in its messaging, health, and welfare policies.
In the context of current and emerging reproductive technologies, HHS policies should never place the desires of adults over the right of children to be raised by the biological fathers and mothers who conceive them. In cases involving biological parents who are found by a court to be unfit because of abuse or neglect, the process of adoption should be speedy, certain, and supported generously by HHS.”
Project 2025 and abortion access
Polis also claimed that page 562 of the document claims “Donald Trump could use an obscure law from the 1800s to single-handedly ban abortion in all 50 states.” While the plan does support limits on abortion access and cutting federal funding for abortion services – and page 562 recommends federal law against abortion pills – The Poynter Institute's fact-checking site PolitiFact said the document does not appear to call for an outright, nationwide ban on abortion.
Project 2025 also makes no mention of a Trump administration specifically, but habitually references "the next conservative president."
Project 2025 and IVF
Another misleading claim by Polis focused on Project 2025 and in vitro fertilization. “Page 450 threatens access to IVF,” he said. The page in question, however, makes no mention of IVF, and PolitiFact said the practice does not appear to be mentioned in the document at all:
"The manual doesn’t outright call for restricting standard contraceptive methods, such as birth control pills or intrauterine devices, known as IUDs," the site states.
Project 2025 and contraception
Polis correctly claimed that Project 2025 "puts limits on contraception."
According to PolitiFact, "[Project 2025] does recommend restricting some emergency contraceptives from certain no-cost insurance coverage.”
Page 482 of the document suggests restoring moral and religious exemptions for companies in providing coverage for some contraceptives. It also recommends the defunding of Planned Parenthood, a provider of contraceptives, according to PolitiFact.
Project 2025 and reporting miscarriages
Colorado’s governor also spoke of Project 2025’s suggestion that miscarriages must be reported to the government. That claim is true, but needs some context.
Page 455 of the document – correctly stated by Polis in his DNC speech – says the Department of Health and Human Services should “ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders,” and separate them by category: “spontaneous miscarriage; treatments that incidentally result in the death of a child (such as chemotherapy); stillbirths; and induced abortion.”
The text adds: “Miscarriage management or standard ectopic pregnancy treatments should never be conflated with abortion.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
