Oregon
Oregon Democratic lawmakers call Project 2025 proposals ‘terrifying’ • Oregon Capital Chronicle
Toward the end of her life, Sara Gelser Blouin’s grandmother told stories about what it was like when she was young.
A woman wearing pants instead of a dress was frowned upon. People counted the days between a marriage and the date a baby was born to calculate when the child had been conceived. And her grandmother suffered for years with debilitatingly painful reproductive health issues, unable to access a medically necessary hysterectomy.
“I would come away struck by how restricted her freedoms were compared to mine,” said Gelser Blouin, a state Democratic senator from Corvallis since 2015. “And then to recognize that my daughters face a future under the Trump plan that could provide them with fewer freedoms than my grandmother had.”
That plan, known as Project 2025, is a key issue in this year’s presidential election.
For many Democrats, the presidential transition plan crafted by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation represents the threat posed by a second Donald Trump presidency. Its proposed restrictions on abortion, strict immigration enforcement, and rejection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, among other measures, are alarming Democrats and motivating them to fight to win.
Trump has distanced himself from the initiative, which diverges from the Republican party platform. But CNN found at least 140 Trump administration staffers worked on the plan.
The Capital Chronicle sought comment about the document from more than a dozen women in the Legislature, both Democrats and Republicans, as part of a series on women in politics. No Republicans agreed to be interviewed.
The Democrats, including Gelser Blouin, said Project 2025 represents a grave threat to Oregonians. Among its most drastic proposals, the project’s 922-page policy agenda calls for closing the Department of Education, establishing a “pro-life task force” in the Department of Health and Human Services and taking employment protections away from certain civil employees.
Women are among the groups with the most at stake in the blueprint, which calls for curtailing reproductive health care options.
A spokesperson for The Heritage Foundation declined to comment.
Gelser Blouin and her Democratic colleagues called some of the agenda’s key policy areas “dangerous,” “terrifying” and “dystopian.”
Here’s a look at some of those proposals.
Abortion rights
Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with a decision that did away with the constitutional right to abortion. Since then, states across the country have adopted abortion bans or restrictions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that tracks reproductive access, 41 states now ban abortions with limited exceptions.
Oregon has no abortion restrictions.
Project 2025 does not call for an outright ban but proposes that the federal Food and Drug Administration reverse its approval of abortion pills, arguing the drugs are unsafe. In the U.S. last year, 63% of abortions were medication-induced, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
The policy document also aims to stop abortions by mail.
State Sen. Elizabeth Steiner, a physician at Oregon Health & Science University, said medication abortions are “the best practice” for people seeking to end their pregnancy. In most cases, she said, drug-induced abortions are safer and allow for more privacy than a surgical procedure.
The idea of the FDA revoking approval for the drugs is “kind of like them saying, ‘we’re going to take away penicillin,’” she said.
State Rep. Lisa Reynolds, who is a pediatrician, said the proposed restrictions left her “a little speechless.”
However, she noted, “Oregon’s going to be fine.”
Under the current governor and state Legislature, she said, Oregon’s strong protections for reproductive health care will stay in place.
Having “a patchwork across the country of who has access to this care and who doesn’t” is “unethical,” Reynolds said.
“We’re fortunate, though, to be here in Oregon,” she added, “to provide not only for citizens here, but certainly for people who will come from states where maybe they’re not able to get that care.”
LGBTQ+ rights
Project 2025 is clear in its rejection of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
The head of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department “should proudly state that men and women are biological realities” and “that married men and women are the ideal, natural family structure because all children have a right to be raised by the men and women who conceived them,” the policy book reads.
For Gelser Blouin, that worldview reduces people’s potential down to reproduction.
The next generation of Oregonians would feel the greatest impact if those values were to become embedded in federal programs, she said.
If those ideas get passed on to “a boy who recognizes that he is gay early on, what type of sense of desperation does that cause within him?” she asked.
Under the project’s agenda, the federal Office of Civil Rights would not enforce the Affordable Care Act’s anti-discrimination provisions based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In medicine, Steiner said respecting patients’ identity is “critical to providing good health care.”
Otherwise, patients could feel they cannot speak openly with their doctor about their relationships, she noted.
People also might receive inadequate care, she said. For example, a provider might fail to prescribe an HIV prevention medication to a man at risk because he has multiple male sexual partners.
“Anything that gets in between a health care provider and their patient,” Steiner said, “and anything that reduces the likelihood that that patient will get the most appropriate, evidence-based care, is not something government should be doing.”
Immigration
The Heritage Foundation’s policy plan introduces a host of measures designed to restrict immigration.
Of particular relevance to Oregon, the document proposes that the federal attorney general help the U.S. Department of Homeland Security get “information about criminal aliens in jurisdictions across the United States, particularly those inside ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions.”
The plan would require states and local governments to turn over information to federal law and immigration enforcement to qualify for federal funding.
If a Trump administration were to try to enforce that, it would likely meet resistance from the Democrats who lead the state. Oregon is a sanctuary state, which means that public agencies in the state are largely forbidden from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement.
Project 2025 would also allow the Department of Homeland Security to bypass typical deportation procedures if it were to determine there were a “mass migration event.”
For state Sen. Janeen Sollman, the project’s immigration policy demonizes people who come to the U.S. illegally.
“A lot of the time, it is about fleeing a place that is causing their family harm,” she said, “that their families are hungry, that their families no longer have a home.”
Sollman said those coming to the state to work help support Oregon’s economy.
Immigrants represent 13% of the workforce in Oregon, according to the American Immigration Council, a pro-immigration research and advocacy nonprofit.
State Sen. WInsvey Campos said the state could fight a federal immigration crackdown, among other scenarios in the Project 2025 agenda, by passing laws to expand protections for Oregonians and leveling court challenges against these new policies.
“One would hope that justice in these cases would prevail,” she said.
She added, however, that many of the project’s policies would “devastate communities.”
The way Gelser Blouin sees it, rhetoric she’s hearing from Trump and from the right about mass deportations show a “moral conscience receding.”
“That’s what’s terrifying. It’s not just a plan that is written down,” she said. “It is a plan that is unifying a base that is going to expect Donald Trump to deliver.”
The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday declined to review the Oregon Court of Appeals’ decision upholding Multnomah County’s ban on flavored tobacco and nicotine products.
Legal challenges have so far delayed the ordinance from taking effect since it was passed four years ago. It was not immediately clear when the ban would go into effect.
“Flavors are one of Big Tobacco’s biggest tricks to hook the next generation of Oregonians on their deadly products,” Christina Bodamer, who leads the Western states region of the American Heart Association, said following the court’s decision.
The Board of County Commissioners originally approved the ordinance banning flavored tobacco and nicotine products in December 2022 to take effect Jan. 1, 2024. But the ordinance hit a roadblock: a court challenge by the 21+ Tobacco and Vapor Retail Association of Oregon, e-cigarette retailer No Moke Daddy LLC, and vape shop owner Paul Bates.
It has been working its way through the state court system since. The Multnomah County Circuit Court upheld the ban in September 2023. The state Court of Appeals continued the pause on implementation February 2024, before upholding the ban in an April 2025 decision. The Supreme Court’s denial of review marks the end of the saga.
The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a similar restriction in Washington County in May. That now sets up both ordinances to go into effect, which will together ban flavored tobacco and nicotine for one-third of Oregonians. A similar ban failed in the Oregon Legislature in 2025, dying in committee.
Tobacco use is the top cause of preventable death and disease in Oregon, according to the Oregon Health Authority. More than 8,000 Oregonians die from tobacco use each year.
Supporters of the ban argue that flavored tobacco acts as a gateway for underage use. According to Flavors Hook Oregon Kids, a coalition of more than 60 organizations that support the ban, 81% of Oregonian kids who’ve used tobacco started with flavored products. And flavored products are much more popular among kids and young adults than older adults, OHA says.
Richard Burke, executive director of the 21+ Tobacco and Vapor Retail Association of Oregon, tells WW the group is disappointed that the Supreme Court did not take up the case. He argues that banning flavored tobacco “has effectively granted a monopoly to the black market,” where flavored products are often laced with more dangerous substances.
“We agree with the goal of keeping these products out of the hands of minors,” Burke says. “But this is an overcorrection that will result in unintended consequences as has been shown by attempts to institute flavor bans in other parts of the country.”
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Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and attorneys general from 11 other states filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block Paramount Skydance Corp.’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing the merger would reduce competition and ultimately raise costs for consumers.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges the merger violates the Clayton Act by substantially lessening competition in the film and television industries.
California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Washington are the other states involved in the lawsuit.
The coalition said it is prepared to seek a temporary restraining order if the companies do not pause the deal as the case moves forward.
“If this massive corporate merger is allowed to go through, Oregonians will pay the price – through higher bills, fewer jobs, less choice at the box office, and fewer editorial voices,” Rayfield said in a press release on Monday. “Despite the federal regulators rubber-stamping this bad deal, we’re stepping up to protect families, small businesses, and Oregon’s film industry.”
READ ALSO | Warner Bros shareholders back $81B Paramount takeover in preliminary vote
According to the lawsuit, the combined company would control nearly one-third of U.S. theatrical film distribution and basic cable programming. The states argue the merger would eliminate competition between two of Hollywood’s five major film distributors and two of the nation’s five largest basic cable companies.
The complaint alleges the merger would reduce competition in theatrical film distribution, blockbuster movie releases and licensing basic cable television channels.
The filing follows Oregon’s investigation into the proposed merger. In early July, Rayfield asked a Multnomah County judge to compel Paramount to produce records the state said it had sought since June, including documents related to the company’s lobbying of the White House and U.S. Department of Justice.
“Paramount has already shown that they think they’re above the law by refusing to comply with Oregon’s investigation,” Rayfield said. “This litigation is the next step to protect Oregonians before irreparable harm is done.”
The U.S. Justice Department isn’t challenging the deal — and instead released an unusually lengthy statement in support, maintaining a Paramount-Warner combo would “increase competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem, with benefits for American consumers and workers,” according to a report from the Associated Press.
In a statement sent out on Monday, Paramount said the lawsuit “distorts settled antitrust law” and maintained its merger would create a “stronger competitor against dominant streaming and technology platforms who have harmed the market for theatrical exhibition and jobs in the entertainment industry.” Paramount went on to say it will “vigorously defend” the transaction.
ROGUE RIVER, Ore. (KATU) — Firefighters working the East Evans Creek Fire about seven miles west of Shady Cove continued making progress overnight, but predicted windy conditions are expected to test fire lines as crews push to strengthen containment.
The Oregon Department of Forestry’s Southwest Oregon District said the fire was estimated at 3,154 acres as of Sunday, July 12, with 0% containment.
Fire activity increased Saturday evening as gusty winds, dry fuels and steep terrain contributed to more active fire behavior. Coordinated ground and aerial suppression efforts limited significant growth, with air tankers used extensively to slow the fire’s spread and helicopters making water drops to cool hotspots and support firefighters in difficult terrain.
On Sunday morning, crews took advantage of more favorable conditions created by an inversion and moderate overnight relative humidity recovery. Firefighters are working to strengthen containment ahead of critical fire weather expected from Sunday into early next week. Winds were expected to gust up to 30 mph Sunday afternoon, with elevated fire weather concerns continuing through the weekend and the potential for thunderstorms on Monday. Aerial suppression operations were expected to be limited Sunday morning by the inversion but remain available as visibility improves and conditions allow.
Structural resources remained in place to protect threatened residences, with structural firefighters focused on protecting homes and critical infrastructure and improving defensible space around threatened properties. Wildland firefighters continued working at the fire’s edge where possible. In areas of extreme and steep terrain, crews also opened alternate lines from previous fires as a precaution in case direct line construction along the fire’s edge is not possible.
The fire started Friday afternoon at 2:41 p.m. after a car crashed into a power pole, sparking dry vegetation, according to ODF. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the cause of the crash.
Evacuation notices remained in effect Sunday for areas surrounding the fire, issued by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Management.
Level 3 – Go Now: JAC-148A. All residences adjacent to East Evans Creek Road from 19385 through 21899 are included, along with residences at 21612 Antioch Road and 21615 Antioch Road.
Level 2 – Be Set: JAC-016, JAC-124, JAC-147 and JAC-148B.
Level 1 – Be Ready: JAC-003, JAC-004, JAC-017, JAC-026, JAC-036, JAC-109, JAC-126 and JAC-149B.
Evacuation areas can be seen on a map through genasys.com. Users can plug in their address and see whether they are within an evacuation zone.
An evacuation shelter for residents and domestic pets was established at Hanby Middle School, 806 6th Ave., Gold Hill.
Horses can be taken to The Expo at 21 Penninger Road, Central Point, but owners are asked to call 541-776-7206 first to confirm space is available. The Josephine County Fairgrounds can take pigs, goats and smaller animals at 1451 Fairgrounds Road, Grants Pass.
For livestock sheltering assistance, call 541-776-7206.
Traffic was closed to the public on East Evans Creek Road at Meadows Road. Officials asked the public to avoid the fire area to allow firefighters and heavy equipment to operate safely.
A temporary flight restriction was in place for the fire area daily, 24 hours a day, until further notice. Officials warned that flying a drone near or around a wildfire is illegal and can interfere with firefighting operations.
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