Not So Fast: Local Agencies Sue Administration Over Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program Cuts

Last summer, the Trump Administration announced an abrupt end to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. Five-year sex education grants will be cut short two years, now ending this June 30. Since the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program began in 2010, the birth rate has dropped from 34.3 births per 1,000 teens to 24.2 births per 1,000 in 2014. Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands and Public Health-Seattle & King County filed separate lawsuits against the Administration, seeking an injunction to preserve the grants. Public Health-Seattle & King County will lose $2.2 million, ending the testing of their countywide sex-education program (FLASH) as a model for the nation. King County has experienced a dramatic 63% drop in teen pregnancies – from 21.5 per 1,000 in 2008 to 8.0 per 1,000 in 2016. The Planned Parenthood lawsuit (with two other Planned Parenthood affiliates) alleges the Administration has “demonstrated an aversion to evidence and science.” The grants were cut soon after Valerie Huber, an abstinence-only advocate, became chief of staff for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health.