The Department of Health and Human Services abruptly terminated federal funding for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program affecting more than 50 grantees across 25 states on June 26. The cancellations eliminated approximately $143 million in remaining grant funding that organizations expected through 2028. Organizations like New York City-based Children’s Aid, which had been operating the program since 2015, received termination letters alleging their work “normalizes or promotes sexual activity for minors” and no longer aligns with administration priorities.
Children’s Aid’s program provided comprehensive services to over 1,200 young people annually through 19 city schools and six school-based health clinics. The initiative offered medically accurate, evidence-based health education covering topics such as healthy relationships, communication skills, and decision-making. The organization employed peer educators from the communities served, providing employment and leadership development opportunities while helping nine staff members and numerous peer educators would lose positions. Program officials characterized the sudden termination as creating significant disruption, with no time to secure alternative funding or notify partner schools before planned summer and fall programming.
The HHS is currently accepting applications for revised Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program grants with new requirements aligned with conservative priorities. The new funding opportunity requires applicants to pass an “alignment review” excluding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and support for gender-affirming care, while prioritizing programs emphasizing abstinence and marriage before procreation. Health experts expressed concern that the revised approach contradicts evidence-based practices shown to reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections among adolescents.
A coalition of affected grantees from Minnesota and Washington state filed a federal lawsuit on July 14 challenging the legality of the funding cuts. This action mirrors similar legal battles from the Trump administration’s first term, when federal judges previously ruled that terminations of teen pregnancy prevention grants using similar justifications were illegal. The current situation reflects broader efforts across at least 14 federal agencies since January 2025 to cancel hundreds of grants totaling billions of dollars for K-12 schools and education programs.
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