Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Sexual Risk Avoidance Programs
(Teen Pregnancy Prevention)
Department of Health and Human ServicesTeens in targeted prevention programs
What This Program Does
The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, established in 2010, funds evidence-based programs and innovative approaches to reduce teen pregnancy rates across the United States. It provides grants to community organizations, schools, and health centers that deliver sexual health education and services to adolescents, particularly in communities with high rates of teen pregnancy.
Who Would Be Affected
The proposed cut would eliminate approximately $100 million in funding that supports programs serving teens in communities with elevated teen pregnancy rates, including rural areas, tribal communities, and low-income urban neighborhoods. Grant recipients include nonprofits, school districts, universities, and community health organizations across dozens of states. These programs reach hundreds of thousands of adolescents annually through both in-school and community-based settings.
What This Cut Would Mean
Elimination of this program would end federally funded evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention efforts, replacing them with abstinence-focused sexual risk avoidance education. Organizations currently running prevention programs would lose their funding and many would likely discontinue services. Independent researchers and public health organizations have noted that the program has been associated with the historic decline in U.S. teen pregnancy rates and that rigorous evaluations have demonstrated the effectiveness of many funded approaches, while research on abstinence-only programs has generally shown more limited impact on teen pregnancy and sexual behavior outcomes.
Administration's Stated Rationale
“Program replaced with abstinence-focused education; evidence-based prevention programs discontinued.”