Federal judge blocks Trump changes to teen pregnancy prevention program

The Trump administration can’t force organizations that receive federal teen pregnancy prevention grants to comply with an executive order against “indoctrinating” children about “radical gender ideology,” a federal judge ruled Tuesday. 

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., an appointee of former President Obama, ruled that a July directive from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was arbitrary and capricious and contradicted the original congressional intent of the grants.  

Howell said HHS imposed binding requirements on grant recipients but gave no indication that those requirements “were the product of reasoned decision-making and analysis of evidence.” 

Instead, the agency “seemingly relied on irrelevant ideological factors, and did not justify its change in position,” Howell wrote.  

The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program funds diverse organizations nationwide working on evidence-based methods to prevent adolescent pregnancy.  

The ruling marked a victory for Planned Parenthood affiliates in California, Iowa and New York that sued to try to block enforcement of the change, but it will apply to all organizations that received grants. 

HHS declined to comment on the ruling. 

In a statement on the notice of funding availability released in July, HHS said the program’s mission is “not to promote harmful ideologies, risky sexual activity for minors, or other content outside the scope of the program.” 

In the guidance, HHS said grant recipients must ensure the curricula in their teen pregnancy programs “reflect the immutable biological reality of sex, not radical gender ideology, and may not promote anti-American ideologies such as discriminatory equity ideology.” 

The lawsuit claimed the groups, which were already approved for the grants, could not use any of the funding without certifying compliance with the policy, which they said would require them to change their programming in a way that would make it ineffective. 

Howell agreed, saying HHS “seemed to make the decision based solely on ideological and political preferences contrived out of thin air.” 

HHS did not submit any evidence of how it decided to implement the policy, and the policy itself was vague on compliance, yet also binding, Howell wrote.  

He said HHS seemed “motivated solely by political concerns, devoid of any considered process or analysis, and ignorant of the statutory emphasis on evidence-based programming.” 

In its announcement of the change, HHS cited a series of executive orders President Trump signed aimed at rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and the recognition of LGBTQ+ individuals. 

“Such ideological considerations are irrelevant to the statutory program established by Congress, which targets effective, evidence-based programming,” Howell ruled.