On "Forbes Newsroom," Mini Timmaraju, President and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, discussed her organizations $100 million plan to help bolster reproductive rights in the 2024 elections, and warned about Project 2025's plans to attack abortion.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Now, you mentioned no matter what former President Trump says, there's only one candidate who
00:07will protect abortion rights, and I wanted to ask you about the RNC platform, because
00:11ahead of the convention next week, the RNC released its policy platform, and when it
00:15comes to reproductive health and abortion, a lot of the headlines used words like a dramatic
00:22shift and a softening in the RNC's historic position when it comes to abortion.
00:29It seems like they are moving away from federal limits or a federal ban on abortion based
00:35on some of the analysis of this platform, but Minnie, I want to ask, what do you make
00:39of the RNC platform and how it treats reproductive health?
00:42Yeah, I mean, it's terrifying.
00:45So look, I mean, I think the American people are very familiar with Donald Trump's incredible
00:50talent at lying and kind of hiding the truth.
00:55A couple of things.
00:57First of all, you know, Project 2025, which is the Heritage Foundation led blueprint for
01:02a future Trump administration, despite his efforts to deny it, I mean, recent reporting
01:06today from CNN indicates over 25 plus authors and folks involved with Project 2025 were
01:13also Trump administration leaders.
01:16So they're entangled.
01:18They're all part of the same allied organization, organizational infrastructure that a Biden
01:24administration will put forth.
01:25And, you know, you mentioned the Supreme Court cases.
01:28You know, what's really terrifying about the medication abortion and the emergency abortion
01:32care cases is the court didn't actually settle the law.
01:35They just punted the cases down the road.
01:37And you look at Project 2025 and right there in plain writing is plans for a Trump admin
01:43to rescind those actions.
01:45So those are executive actions by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
01:48Going back to the platform, I was really disturbed to see the number of outlets that called it
01:53softening of language, because what the GOP did was really, really sneaky.
02:01They did not do their laundry list of bills that they've supported in the past.
02:05And they made a big show of having a public fight with some of the most extreme abortion
02:09activists in their party.
02:10But what they did do was put language that very clearly indicated that they support states
02:16invoking the 14th Amendment and applying it to embryos and fetuses.
02:22What that does is it extends.
02:24It basically creates a pathway for legislation that enshrines personhood for embryos.
02:33That is the basis for some of the most challenging, scary attacks on abortion, but also contraception
02:40and also IVF.
02:41You know, the big Alabama case that everybody got really worked up about on IVF.
02:45That was based on personhood, personhood theology, personhood ideology.
02:52So that's the root of that movement.
02:55And at least a dozen or so anti-abortion leaders praised it openly.
03:00They weren't hiding it, that that was actually a big deal for them.
03:04Because you think about this court, and you think about states enacting rules like that,
03:07you can say, leave it to the states, leave it to the states.
03:10States enact legislation like this, it goes to this court.
03:14And now we have a federal personhood decision from this Supreme Court.
03:19And that would just be endgame for contraception, IVF, and so many other reproductive technologies.
03:26And listen, that's always been what that movement has advocated for.
03:31And we can see it in the light of day.
03:32So I'm excited that so many people caught it, disappointed in the narrative in the press.
03:38But it's our job as advocates to educate folks about this.
03:41Now we're talking both about the RNC platform and Project 2025.
03:45And this might feel like a really basic question, but for folks who are seeing headlines about both of these things,
03:50what is the difference between Project 2025 and the RNC platform?
03:56Yeah, I mean, the difference is that the RNC platform is the, quote,
04:00official on the record policy that the party has adopted.
04:06But really, in a year where you have an incumbent and for all intents and purposes,
04:10Donald Trump is functioning as an incumbent in this situation.
04:14It is the president's message.
04:17And Donald Trump, I think, is smart to make the message seem more moderate and palatable.
04:23But what Project 2025 is, is actually a lot more powerful.
04:27And look, Democrats have their own versions of this, too, right?
04:30You have allied groups that support the president, that put out their policy platforms like ours.
04:36And you have those organizations endorsing or supporting that candidate, right?
04:41So every side has this.
04:44So if you line up Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and their equivalent organizations putting out platforms like Project 2025,
04:51they match very clearly what a Biden-Harris administration has done.
04:55And that is how you know what's accurate.
04:57When you look at Project 2025 and you look at the Trump administration and who he appointed and what he did in office,
05:06not what the GOP platform says, his campaign mandate, but what he actually did.
05:12And that is our message.
05:13Look at what Donald Trump did.
05:15Not what he's saying through the GOP platform now, but what the folks who ran his admin did.
05:20They overturned Roe.
05:22And it was in that blueprint.
05:24So believe it when they say they're going to do it again.