{"id":3926,"date":"2026-07-22T20:09:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T20:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3926"},"modified":"2026-07-22T20:09:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T20:09:18","slug":"feds-shift-teen-pregnancy-prevention-focus-to-abstinence-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3926","title":{"rendered":"Feds shift teen pregnancy prevention focus to abstinence, marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>KEY POINTS<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>The Trump administration cancelled dozens of grants for teen pregnancy prevention programs, changing the focus to marriage and abstinence promotion.<\/li>\n<li>Some of the programs have filed lawsuits to prevent defunding.<\/li>\n<li>Teen pregnancy is at historical lows for a variety of reasons that range from contraceptive use to less sex to popularity of smartphones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Abstinence and marriage are the focus of new government directives for programs hoping to access federal Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program funding<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3924\">ICE detention hits record high in June despite mounting criticism<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Office of Population Affairs  for an anticipated 52 grant awards totaling just over $63 million for up to two years with a possible third year. Grants are expected to be awarded at the end of September and the actual total hinges on passage of the 2027 fiscal year budget.<\/p>\n<p>The move comes as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently canceled or withdrew $67 million in teen pregnancy prevention grant funds that had previously been allocated. Of 67 grants, 53 were cut, as Deseret News has reported.<\/p>\n<h3>Teen birth rates in the U.S.<\/h3>\n<p>Meanwhile, the teen birth rate has been falling for more than three decades, with a few short blips upward. The teen birth rate is the number of live births per 1,000 females aged 15-19 and in 2024 was 12.6 per 1,000, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. That\u2019s the most recent year for which full data is available. At its highest known point in , the rate was 96.3.<\/p>\n<p>Deseret News has previously reported that reasons for the decrease appear to be varied, but include changes in dating and social behavior among adolescents that include less sexual activity overall and waiting longer to engage in sex for those adolescents who do, sex education, access to contraceptives and even cell phones. While some cite abortion as a reason, others note that abortion rates have been declining in tandem, making that association unclear.<\/p>\n<h3>What new grants require<\/h3>\n<p>Per the grant application notice, the federal government wants to fund projects \u201cthat provide adolescents with medically accurate, age-appropriate education and counseling that help them understand their bodies, clarify reproductive life goals and make informed health decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The notice says that \u201cmost Americans do not know how their bodies function in a state of health. They lack basic understanding of the relationships between hormonal and reproductive health and overall physical and mental well-being, and they are often unaware of how decisions made during adolescence and young adulthood may affect health, fertility and quality of life in adulthood. This widespread health and body illiteracy undermines informed consent, weakens preventive health efforts, and contributes to poor long-term health outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Per The New York Times, \u201cThe new criteria say that grant recipients must teach abstinence as the only means to prevent teen pregnancy. Courses must stress the importance of marriage and procreation and instruct young people how to safeguard their fertility.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The criteria for the grants say little about sexually transmitted infections. And in keeping with the priorities set by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, gender and sexual orientation or identity are not discussed. That aligns with one of the office\u2019s stated goals: \u201cTo the extent permitted by applicable law, including any applicable court orders, OASH will prioritize OASH programs and funding that accurately reflect the scientific biological reality of sex.\u201d The office refers only to male and female.<\/p>\n<p>Per its priorities, \u201cOASH has an obligation to ensure that its programs are age appropriate for minors and do not promote harmful ideologies, such as gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology. OASH will focus on programs that do not promote material that depicts, describes, exposes or presents obscene, indecent, or sexually explicit content, including content that encourages, normalizes or promotes sexual activity for minors. OASH will prioritize OASH programs and funding that are in compliance with these priorities and applicable law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The new priorities also include protecting parental rights when it comes to children\u2019s religious upbringing.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3922\">President Camille N. Johnson to lead Utah\u2019s largest Pioneer Day parade<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It is expected that crisis pregnancy centers, which oppose abortion and aim to help carry a pregnancy to term, will be able to apply for the grants under the new application criteria.<\/p>\n<h3>Pushback and lawsuits<\/h3>\n<p>Several programs that were defunded are suing the Health and Human Services Department and its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on claims that the new requirements are ideological and not scientifically based and that they do not reflect the intent of the federal mandate that has underpinned funding of teen pregnancy prevention efforts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCongress plainly did not intend H.H.S. to focus on teaching young women strategies to become pregnant in a pregnancy prevention program,\u201d wrote Democracy Forward, a national legal advocacy nonprofit, in the lawsuit, as quoted by the Times.<\/p>\n<p>Programs that are losing funding accuse the administration of \u201cdistorting\u201d their approach to teen pregnancy prevention. One, cited by the Times and accused of normalizing pornography use, as well as showing videos that feature teens and sexual activity, roundly disputed the administration\u2019s claim. <\/p>\n<p>Rena Dixon, head of the nonprofit Fact Forward of South Carolina, which provides teens with health and sex education classes, told the Times, \u201cThat information was just not true.\u201d She said the group has never used the lessons cited in the defunding letter. She said the video \u201cis about one teen telling another that she had had sex, and her friend responding, \u2018That\u2019s a big no-no!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Others also said their program content was mischaracterized. \u201cThey pointed out that the grant had required them to use courses from a federally approved list shown by research to be age-appropriate and effective,\u201d per the Times.<\/p>\n<p>That means, they said, that the content they are required by the federal government to present is being cited as a reason for grant termination.<\/p>\n<h3>Legal history and looking forward<\/h3>\n<p>The first Trump administration attempted to defund the grants for teen pregnancy prevention, but the effort was foiled by court decisions, as NBC News reported. The approach has changed. The administration is now defunding certain programs on the basis of whether or not they fit administration priorities.<\/p>\n<p>Efforts to defund teen pregnancy prevention programs have been controversial. According to Bloomberg Law, after grantees were told to change their programming if they acknowledged more than two genders or questioned parents\u2019 religious views, three Planned Parenthood affiliates sued and a federal judge vacated the government\u2019s guidance. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3920\">State announces investments to keep \u2018Utah-grown food in Utah\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Since the grants have been cancelled, some believe more lawsuits will be filed. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump administration canceled federal grants and is launching new round. Teen pregnancy is at record lows. Why has teen pregnancy declined?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Feds shift teen pregnancy prevention focus to abstinence, marriage - American Movers Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3926\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Feds shift teen pregnancy prevention focus to abstinence, marriage - American Movers Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trump administration canceled federal grants and is launching new round. 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