Project 2025 is the manifesto some Republicans want to use to reshape government and consolidate power if former President Donald Trump regains the White House on Nov. 5.

The Heritage Foundation, a major think tank in Washington, DC, authored a 900-page policy manual advocating for conservative and right-wing policies, including eliminating legal safeguards against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and eliminating contraceptive coverage from expedite.

As we approach Election Day 2024, a closer look at the laws passed in Louisiana last year shows that the state may be closer to Project 2025 initiatives than one might think.

Bill 2025 Targets Mifepristone and Misoprostol: Louisiana has already banned abortion pills and established criminal penalties for these drugs

While not advocating a complete ban on abortion, Project 2025 proposes pulling mifepristone, the abortion pill, from the market and leveraging existing laws to prevent it from being distributed by mail.

The conservative Republican plan refers to the abortion pill as “the greatest threat to unborn children in a post-roe the world.” The document states that the rate of chemical abortions in the US has increased by more than 150% in the past decade; more than half of the annual abortions in the US are chemical rather than surgical.

More: Senator Shreveport’s bill makes abortion pills the first nationally controlled substance

Mifepristone and misoprostol were designated as Schedule IV drugs in Louisiana in May, and the state became the first state to establish criminal penalties for anyone who prescribes or dispenses either drug without proper authorization.

Project 2025 proposes to remove critical race theory and ‘gender ideology’ from schools: Discussions of pronoun use, gender and race are currently banned from Louisiana public classrooms

Project 2025 calls for the next conservative president to make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for “woke culture warriors” by erasing the terms sexual orientation and gender, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), gender, gender equality, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights from any federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.”

It proposes removing the beliefs of “critical race theory” and “gender ideology” from the curricula of every public school in the country, arguing that they harm children.

“These theories poison our children, who are taught on the one hand to assert that the color of their skin fundamentally determines their identity and even their moral status, while on the other hand they are taught to deny their ‘creature’ which it is inherent to the human being. and consists in accepting the ‘givenness’ of our nature as men and women,” the 2025 Project points out.

Project 2025 states that allowing parents or doctors to “reassign” a minor’s gender is child abuse and must end. It states that public institutions that use taxpayer dollars to declare the superiority or inferiority of certain races, sexes and religions violate the Constitution and civil rights law and cannot be tolerated by any government anywhere in the country.

Louisiana public schools now have laws banning gender identity and racial talk and allowing teachers to use the names and pronouns preferred by LGBTQ students.

Act 681, drafted as House Bill 122 by Haughton Republican Rep. Dodie Horton, prohibits teachers from discussing or allowing classroom discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation.

Act 680, drafted as House Bill 121 by Republican Bossier City Rep. Raymond Crews, requires school employees to use students’ first and last names on their birth certificates unless they have written permission from parents to do so.

Governor Jeff Landry signed an executive order on August 27 restricting the use of critical race theory in K-12 public schools. The order stated that critical race theory includes divisive teachings that instruct students to view life through the lens of race and victimization.

Landry said teaching children that they are currently or destined to be oppressed or oppressed based on their race and background is wrong and has no place in Louisiana classrooms.

Project 2025 Supports ESA: Louisiana Adopts Universal School Choice Policy and Education Savings Account Program

According to the policy agenda, the US Department of Education should be eliminated to make way for a “school choice” policy that directs public funds to be used to send students to private or public schools.

It argues that every parent should have the option to direct their child’s share of education funding through an Education Savings Account (ESA), largely funded by state and local taxpayers, that would allow parents to choose a set of education options to meet their needs. the unique needs of the child.

Louisiana joined 12 other states with at least one private school choice program when the governor signed the creation of the first Education Savings Account program in June.

Through the Giving All True Opportunity to Rise (GATOR) scholarship program, students will be able to apply in the spring of 2025 and will begin receiving funds in August 2025. The Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) will determine amount per student (s).

Eventually, it will be open to all K-12 students in the state, regardless of income. Families will be able to use the scholarship program to hire instructors or students, purchase curriculum and other teaching materials, etc.

More: When will Louisiana parents be able to apply for the new private school tuition program?

Project 2025 highlights the use of the death penalty: Louisiana reinstated the death penalty with expanded methods of execution

Project 2025 highlights the use of the death penalty where appropriate and applicable and calls on the next Conservative administration to do everything possible to achieve permanency for the 44 prisoners currently on federal death row.

“…providing this sentence without ever carrying it out does not provide justice to either the families of the victims or the defendant,” the document states.

It also calls for the next Conservative administration to do everything it can to achieve permanency for prisoners currently on federal death row, and calls for the next Conservative administration to pursue the death penalty for applicable crimes – especially heinous crimes involving violence and sexual abuse on children – until Congress says otherwise through legislation.

More: Louisiana will join Alabama in adding nitrogen asphyxiation as an option for killing prisoners

In Louisiana, nitrogen executions and electrocution were authorized in March, reviving the death penalty in Louisiana after a 13-year hiatus.

Landry said Louisiana owes it to the victims and their families to resume executions.

Lethal injection was the only legal method of execution in Louisiana, but state officials said they were unable to obtain the drugs to carry out the death sentences. Louisiana is one of 27 states where the death penalty still exists.

Louisiana’s most recent execution took place on January 7, 2010, of Gerald Bordelon, marking the state’s 28th execution in the modern era of the death penalty.

Currently, 76 people are on death row in Louisiana, according to the ACLU.

Follow Ian Robinson on Twitter @_irobinsonand on Facebook at https://bit.ly/3vln0w1.

This article originally appeared on the Shreveport Times: Do the new Louisiana laws align with those outlined in Project 2025?