Since June 2026, the current administration has canceled 53 Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP) grants totaling $67 million. Instead, they are being replaced with programs focused on “anatomy, fertility tracking, hormonal production, and ‘reproductive goals counseling.” The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) justified the cuts by arguing that the previous programs “normalized sexual activity for minors.’
Congress created the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program in 2010, and it has received bipartisan funding for the past 16 years despite repeated efforts to eliminate it. Unlike the administration’s characterization, the program relied on evidence-based education models shown to reduce adolescent pregnancy and related risk behaviors. During that time, teen birth rates declined by roughly 72%, demonstrating the effectiveness of comprehensive, research-backed approaches.
The program also provided young people with accurate information about contraception, healthy relationships, and sexual health. As student Paige Preston noted, the curriculum offered education that extended beyond pregnancy prevention by helping students understand safe sex and birth control options.
Eliminating these programs is likely to have the greatest impact on low-income and minority youth, where students often depend on school-based programs for reliable reproductive health information. At a time when misinformation is increasingly widespread, reducing access to evidence-based education leaves many young people without trusted resources.
The replacement programs reflect a broader shift in federal priorities. Rather than emphasizing comprehensive sexual health education, new grant requirements focus on an archaic form of body literacy, including modules on anatomy and reproduction, which push an inequitable approach rather than supporting all of young people’s reproductive choices. This shift has revoked education and empowerment in favor of submission, which forces young people to “affirm marriage and parenthood as meaningful and valuable components of adult life.”
With the cutting of TPP funding, young people from minority groups and low-income backgrounds are forced to bear the consequences of this discrimination against their bodies and their choices.