A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to overhaul a national initiative aimed at reducing teen pregnancies, ruling that the changes violated federal law and undermined evidence-based public health efforts.
The decision restores funding and guidelines for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP), a nationwide initiative created in 2010 to support community organisations that use scientifically tested methods to reduce adolescent pregnancy and improve reproductive health education.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge, Ketanji Brown Jackson, before joining the Supreme Court, found that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) acted unlawfully when it terminated multi-year grants early and sought to redirect funding toward abstinence-only and untested programs.
“The agency failed to follow its own rules and did not provide a reasonable explanation for the abrupt policy change,” the judge wrote, calling the administration’s actions “arbitrary and capricious.”
The lawsuit was filed by several public health organisations and local grantees whose funding was slashed midway through the grant cycle. They argued that the administration’s actions jeopardised years of research-driven progress in reducing teen pregnancy rates across the United States.
The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program has historically funded projects that emphasise medically accurate, age-appropriate sexual education and access to contraception. Under the Trump administration, HHS attempted to steer the program toward abstinence-focused initiatives and limit support for evidence-based curricula.
Public health advocates welcomed the ruling, saying it safeguards data-driven approaches proven to reduce unintended teen pregnancies. “This decision ensures that science, not politics, guides how we protect young people’s health,” said Lisa David, president of Public Health Solutions, one of the plaintiffs in the case.
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