Image: A teacher holds a student’s baby while his class completes course-work at a high school for young parents in Spokane, Washington
Yet the Federal Health Agency has just cancelled most of its teen pregnancy prevention grants. A spokesperson for U.S. Health and Human Services confirmed to Stateline on Friday that the agency is cancelling 53 out of 67 grants, worth about US$68 million, under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, affecting grantees in more than two dozen US states.
Yet the program is part of the agency’s Office of Population Affairs and is a “national, evidence-based grant program that funds diverse organizations working to prevent teen pregnancy across the United States,” according to the HHS website. The agency provides funding to programs that develop and evaluate innovative approaches to prevent teen pregnancy as well as to prevent sexually transmitted infections among adolescents, and to promote positive behaviors.
A list obtained by Stateline of cancelled grants includes those awarded to universities, community organizations, city and state health departments and Planned Parenthood affiliates in states such as Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Texas and West Virginia. The grants were cancelled two years before their expiration dates because “the programmes did not align with agency priorities”, according to one of the grantees who received a termination notice. The so-called “agency priorities” appear to be to increase teen birth rates in line with anti-abortion federal policy.
Ayana Bradshaw, president and CEO of AccessMatters in Philadelphia, told Stateline her organization received the termination notice of its $1.2 million grant on Friday, and that it was effective the same day. Bradshaw said the letter cited a misalignment with agency priorities, specifically that the program “normalizes or promotes sexual activity for minors”.
AccessMatters’ Adolescent Health Initiative is entirely funded by the federal grant and provides free sexual and reproductive health programs to more than 1,100 teens between the ages of 13 and 19. The program provides information, education and referrals for healthcare as needed. “This is devastating for the youth that we serve,” Bradshaw said. “It also impacts us as an organization, our staff, and it impacts the partners that we had who supported us in implementing this program.”
During the first administration of President Donald Trump in 2017, HHS took the same action, ending grants for more than 80 recipients two years before they were set to expire. Legal advocacy organization Democracy Forward sued the administration on behalf of several grantees and won a permanent injunction after courts ruled the action violated agency regulations.
The Trump administration identified the teen pregnancy program as one to cut in its 2025 budget request, and it was included in the final 2026 appropriations bill. The language accompanying that bill said grants for sexual risk avoidance must use medically accurate information and teach youth about risky behaviors “without normalizing teen sexual activity.”
Teen birth rates have fallen dramatically in the past 20 years, according to federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data — about 72% since 2007. Experts attribute that decline to fewer teens deciding to have sex earlier, sex education and better access to contraception, especially for girls.
The agency also released two new grant programs this week, one of which is titled “Replicating Effective Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs,” with $63.4 million available to be awarded. The other is “Rigorous Impact Evaluation of Programs to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Achieve Optimal Health,” with $8.3 million available.
Both opportunities tell applicants that they must pass an alignment review process to ensure they meet agency priorities. That language mimics Trump administration language in the 2027 Notice of Funding Opportunity for Title X grants, which a national family planning organization filed a lawsuit over last week, arguing that it violates Congress’ intentions and administrative procedure.
Tara Mancini, director of public policy at reproductive health advocacy organization Power to Decide, said she expects the administration’s decision to cancel the grants to be challenged again in court.
The week before this report was published, Stateline also reported that “Family planning organizations sue Trump administration over Title X funding announcement” for “politicizing the Title X grant funding program and violating the intent of the law”.
Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, told Stateline on Thursday that the organization chose the Pennsylvania network to participate in the lawsuit in part because it has been a grantee of funds since the beginning of the Title X program in 1970 and serves a large number of people. “We’re very grateful that they were willing to stand with us,” Coleman said.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane, an appointee of former Democratic President Bill Clinton.
Title X, established by Congress and signed by former Republican President Richard Nixon, is a grant program prioritizing low-income or uninsured people, including those who make too much to qualify for Medicaid, who may not otherwise have access to family planning and reproductive health services. That includes services such as contraception, pregnancy tests, testing for sexually transmitted infections and wellness exams. The guidance associated with the funding notice also shifts the focus of the Title X grants from expanding access to services like contraception to strengthening “family formation” and assisting clients in “achieving healthy pregnancies”. Clinics are instructed to prioritize and promote natural methods of family planning, such as menstrual cycle tracking, which is less effective at preventing pregnancy than contraception. A hearing for the case will likely be scheduled in the coming weeks.
SOURCE: Stateline, by Kelcie Moseley-Morris. 26 June 2026. Photo by Camilla Forte/The Hechinger Report, 26 June 2026. Stateline, by Kelcie Moseley-Morris, 18 June 2026.