Trump administration cancels $67 million in Planned Parenthood teen pregnancy prevention grants
The Trump administration has canceled tens of millions of dollars in federal grants that funneled taxpayer money into Planned Parenthood's comprehensive sex-education programs, after the government's own evaluations found the curricula were making the problem worse instead of better.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified grantees on June 26 that it would not renew most awards under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, a grant scheme dating back to 2010 that had funneled $67 million to organizations including Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest alone received $4 million to run the program, yet an official evaluation found that teens who went through its curriculum were more likely to become pregnant afterward, not less.
In its cancellation letter, HHS explained that officials reviewed the material being taught and concluded the curricula "normalize adolescent sexual activity and are not age appropriate." In place of the canceled grants, HHS announced two new grant opportunities built around abstinence and body literacy rather than the explicit content the old program pushed on teenagers.
President Trump has delivered exactly the kind of accountability the pro-life movement has demanded from Washington for years: real consequences for an abortion giant that has spent decades disguising itself as a public health resource for teenagers. Arkansas proved this approach works. When the state shifted from comprehensive sex-education to abstinence education in 1997 under Governor Mike Huckabee, its teen birthrate fell 17 percent within eight years, and its teen abortion rate collapsed by 48 percent.
Priests for Life has long insisted that protecting children starts with refusing to let Planned Parenthood anywhere near their education, and Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, has repeatedly called on federal officials to sever every dollar of taxpayer support flowing to the nation's largest abortion provider. The organization's longstanding call for defunding Planned Parenthood aligns directly with the administration's action.
Final Thoughts
Every dollar redirected away from Planned Parenthood is a dollar no longer subsidizing the abortion industry's access to America's children. President Trump's HHS just proved that when the evidence is honestly examined, Planned Parenthood's approach to sex-education does not protect teenagers. It fails them. Cutting it off was not just good policy. It was the right thing to do.
Related resources: Legislative action for the unborn at PriestsForLife.org
