Trump Administration Cancels Most Teen Pregnancy Prevention Grants

In late June 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) terminated all but a dozen grants in the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program, eliminating $66 million in funding nationwide. The notice required grantees to align program materials with five executive orders that prohibit “radical gender ideology” and “anti-American ideologies such as discriminatory equity ideology.” The agency cited “misalignment with agency priority, specifically normalizing sexual activity for minors” as the reason for the cancellations.

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The cuts affected a diverse set of recipients, from public health departments and universities to Planned Parenthood affiliates and Bethany Christian Services branches. Healthy Futures of Texas, which delivers sexual-health education in San Antonio, Dallas, and the Rio Grande Valley, lost its $2 million annual grant, resulting in the loss of 13 jobs and the suspension of 11 adapted curricula. The organization had previously revised its programs to meet the executive-order requirements and had received approval as recently as November 2025.

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Sociologist Nicholas Mark of the University of Wisconsin-Madison emphasized that the TPP stream was created in 2010 to fund programs proven effective through randomized controlled trials. He called the agency’s “normalizing sexual activity for minors” rationale “bizarre.” Congressional Democrats, in letters to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., urged reinstatement of the $101 million funding that Trump signed into law earlier in 2026, arguing the cuts undermine evidence-based interventions.

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Paige Preston, an 18-year-old from the Navajo Nation who attended a LiFT workshop run by Hózho Horizons, expressed disappointment after the workshop’s cancellation: “In all honesty, I’m very sad and disappointed.” She added that learning from Indigenous mentors “means a lot more because it shows someone like you is knowledgeable and passionate, which makes you want to listen more.”

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The administration’s budget request claimed there is “no evidence” that TPP programs contributed to the historic decline in teen pregnancy, while experts cite rigorous evaluations confirming effectiveness. HHS declined multiple requests for comment on the specific reasons for the mass termination, leaving a gap in official justification.

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Verbatim Quotes

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• “Program materials are expected [to] reflect the immutable biological reality of sex, not radical gender ideology, and may not promote anti-American ideologies such as discriminatory equity ideology.” — HHS notice

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• “We had to essentially adapt and revise all of the already approved curricula to be in alignment with the executive orders — so that for us was 11 different programs that we adapted.” — Ginger Mullaney, President & CEO, Healthy Futures of Texas

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• “There is no evidence that these specific programs have contributed to this historic decline in teen pregnancy, which is now at an all-time low. Moreover, TPP issues grants to problematic organizations like abortion clinics that waste American taxpayer dollars on abortion services and promote radical leftist ideology.” — President Donald Trump, budget request

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• “The reason that agency gave for canceling these grants — ‘normalizing sexual activity for minors’ — is a ‘bizarre’ framework.” — Nicholas Mark, University of Wisconsin-Madison

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• “When you participate and you learn from people like you — like in Indigenous communities — that means a lot more because it’s showing you that someone like you is so knowledgeable about a subject, and they’re really passionate about that and it kind of makes you want to listen more.” — Paige Preston, Navajo Nation youth activist

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