Backward to the Future examines the ideological foundations of Saving America by Saving the Family, tracing how its proposals would reshape American law, culture, and education in ways that are exclusionary by design.

Download the full report or preview each section below.

Download

Introduction

In 2022, the Heritage Foundation launched Project 2025, a set of conservative policy proposals addressing a range of social issues. The think tank’s most recent report builds upon this work. The Heritage Foundation describes Saving America by Saving the Family, as a special report presenting a “comprehensive examination of the current state of the American family, along with innovative solutions to encourage family formation.” Five of the six named authors of Saving America by Saving the Family worked on Project 2025, including lead author Roger Severino.

Primary Analysis

The main premise of Saving America by Saving the Family is that the breakdown of the “traditional” American family—a married mother and father raising their own children—is the biggest reason for America’s decline. The report warns that because fewer people are getting married and having children, the U.S. is facing a “demographic crisis” where deaths will soon outpace births, threatening the country’s future survival. To fix this, the authors propose that the government must treat the falling birth rate like a national emergency and change its laws to make marriage and large families the most important parts of American life.

Comprehensive Sex Ed

Saving America by Saving the Family is not simply a policy report. It is a rejection of democratic ideals like pluralism, equal protection, and the right of every citizen to live freely without government-sanctioned discrimination. By framing the “traditional” family as the singular solution to perceived national decline, the Heritage Foundation simultaneously pathologizes LGBTQIA+ identities, scapegoats Black families, and strips women of reproductive and personal autonomy. These are not isolated policy preferences; they are interlocking pillars of a worldview that demands conformity at the expense of equity—one that tells some Americans that their families are legitimate and others that theirs are a symptom of national decay.

Conclusion

The Heritage Foundation is part of an extremist network that has rightfully identified sex education as the ideal space for shaping young people’s views on reproductive rights, gender equity, and social justice. However, instead of focusing on the well-being and safety of young people, Saving America by Saving the Family presents a roadmap that requires dismantling sex education and replacing it with harmful rhetoric that upholds heterosexual marriage and abundant procreation as moral and civic duties. This model limits opportunities for women, reinforces racism, and erases LGBTQIA+ individuals while suppressing decades of research showing that inclusive and honest health education leads to better life outcomes for all young people.