On September 3, 2025, a new wave of policy proposals emerged from the Heritage Foundation—the powerful conservative think tank known for its close alignment with former President Donald Trump’s administration and its influential Project 2025 blueprint. Now, the group is pushing for what it calls a "Manhattan Project to restore the nuclear family," a reference to the ambitious World War II program that developed the first atomic bombs. But this time, the goal isn’t military might—it’s a dramatic reversal of America’s declining birth rates and a re-centering of traditional family values at the heart of federal policy.
According to reports from The Washington Post and The Independent, the Heritage Foundation is preparing to release a position paper titled “We Must Save the American Family.” The document, which is expected to be unveiled next week, urges the U.S. government to pour resources directly into individual families rather than existing child care programs like Head Start. The Heritage Foundation’s policy architects argue that the country’s demographic challenges cannot be solved by technical fixes alone—such as freezing eggs, in vitro fertilization (IVF), surrogacy, or genetic screening—but instead require a cultural and policy shift toward strengthening marriage and the traditional family.
“For family policy to succeed, old orthodoxies must be re-examined and innovative approaches embraced, but more than that, we need to mobilize a nation to meet this moment,” the upcoming paper reportedly states, as cited by The Washington Post. The group is calling on the president to issue orders mandating that all proposed federal policies be evaluated for their positive or negative impacts on marriage and family. If a program is found to undermine these values, the Heritage Foundation wants it revamped or scrapped entirely.
The think tank’s vice president of domestic policy, Roger Severino, told The Independent that the Heritage Foundation has been “developing novel policy ideas to address the family crisis with internal experts and external partners to do what we do best—generate and implement effective, principled solutions to seemingly intractable societal problems.” While confirming that the full paper would be released soon, Severino thanked the media for “generating buzz ahead of the rollout.”
Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, echoed these sentiments during a public address on September 2, 2025. “Prudence recognizes that the interests of the family and the national interest are not merely aligned; they are one and the same. It demands that we ask of every policy, every proposal: Will this strengthen the American family?” he said, underscoring the group’s belief that family and national prosperity are inseparable.
The urgency behind these proposals is rooted in a sobering reality: America’s birth rate has plummeted to an all-time low. The Heritage Foundation’s position paper reportedly critiques what it calls “extraordinary technical solutions” to the problem—such as IVF, egg freezing, surrogacy, and genetic screening—describing these as part of “a world of artificial wombs and custom lab-created babies on demand.” Instead, the group insists that “the answer to the problem of loneliness and demographic decline must begin with marriage.” According to The Washington Post, the paper blames a host of social changes for the country’s declining fertility, including “free love, pornography, careerism, the Pill, abortion, same-sex relations, and no-fault divorce.”
While the Heritage Foundation’s stance on these issues is hardly new, its latest proposals come as Republican leaders increasingly embrace a philosophy known as "pronatalism"—the belief that society should actively encourage having more children. Vice President JD Vance, for example, has become a vocal champion of increasing the U.S. birth rate. In January 2025, he stated plainly, “I want more babies in the United States of America.” President Trump, too, has praised the idea of a $5,000 “baby bonus” for new mothers, saying in April 2025 that such measures could help reverse the country’s demographic decline.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has also weighed in, telling Fox News, “The way popular culture has developed in recent decades, they de-emphasize the family, they de-emphasize the merit of marriage, strong, steady, stable marriages between one man and one woman that produce children. This is part of the uphill climb that we have in working against the culture, but we’ll continue to do that, and public policy should reflect it.”
Yet, the debate over how best to address falling birth rates is far from settled—even within conservative circles. While President Trump has at times distanced himself from Project 2025, declaring last August, “I know nothing about Project 2025,” he has nonetheless appointed several of the blueprint’s authors to key administration roles and enacted policies that mirror the group’s recommendations. These include anti-immigrant measures, the elimination of the Department of Education, orders to end diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, and significant cuts to public broadcasters like NPR.
One area of tension lies in the Heritage Foundation’s critique of IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies. Trump has previously declared himself the “father of IVF” and promised to expand access to the medical procedure. However, The Independent reports that the White House has quietly abandoned these plans in recent months. Instead, the Heritage Foundation is promoting “Restorative Reproductive Medicine” as an alternative to IVF—a process that critics have slammed as “unscientific.” The group has also called for new regulations on the IVF industry, arguing that unchecked technological intervention is not the answer to declining birth rates.
For its part, the Heritage Foundation insists that the core of its approach is about “mobilizing a nation” to support families directly. Rather than investing in large-scale child care programs, the group wants government funds funneled straight to families themselves. The idea, according to the forthcoming paper, is to empower parents and reinforce the institution of marriage as the bedrock of society.
As the debate intensifies, the Heritage Foundation’s proposals are drawing both praise and criticism. Supporters argue that a renewed focus on the family is essential for America’s long-term stability and prosperity. Critics, however, warn that the group’s recommendations could roll back decades of progress on gender equality, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ+ inclusion. Some also question the scientific basis of alternatives to established reproductive technologies and worry that policies rooted in traditionalism may not reflect the realities of modern American life.
Still, there’s no denying the influence of the Heritage Foundation’s ideas. As the country grapples with demographic decline and cultural division, the battle over the future of the American family is shaping up to be one of the defining policy debates of the coming years. With the full details of the Heritage Foundation’s position paper set for release next week, all eyes will be on Washington to see just how far these proposals will go—and who will answer their call to "save the American family."
