HHS To Withhold Teen Pregnancy Prevention Funds From Recipients Deemed Gender Ideology Extremists

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On July 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a Program Policy notice putting recipients of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP) on alert: grantees must “cease using content that is not in compliance with this policy and President Trump’s Executive Orders”. The program serves individuals ages 10-24 and their parents, caregivers, and youth-serving professionals. Over 1.4 million youth have benefited since inception, according to Planned Parenthood documentation.

Now the Administration is holding teen healthcare hostage to bogus thinking, and it promises to be catastrophic.

The notice emphasizes recipient compliance with a handful of EOs, including EO14168 Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, which asserts that gender can be only male and female.

Also highlighted: EO14190 Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling, with fallout widely expected to limit exposure to history and classroom discussions about gender, race and identity;  EO14187 Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation; and equity inclusion-buster: EO14151 Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.

“For the last 15 years, the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program (TPP program) has funded projects designed for teens to have healthy conversations about sex education that meets rigorous, research-backed criteria,” Dr. Sara C. Flowers, Vice President of Education and Training at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, tells GO via email. “The program has been proven effective — its successes include reduced rates of STIs among teens; teens using safer sex practices, and families and teens empowered with the knowledge to make informed decisions about their own bodies and lives.”

The HHS Office of Public Affairs notice states that the $101 million program’s mission is “to reduce teen pregnancy through medically accurate and age-appropriate programming, not to promote harmful ideologies, risky sexual activity for minors, or other content outside the scope of the program.” Citing the SCOTUS Mahmoud ruling (parental rights to opt children out of LGBTQ-inclusive content), grantees will no longer be allowed to reference books considered to be “LGBTQ+-inclusive” and with same-sex marriage and gender identity subjects. 

“Program materials are expected to reflect the immutable biological reality of sex, not radical gender ideology, and may not promote anti-American ideologies such as discriminatory equity ideology. Programs with such unauthorized content are not eligible for federal funding,” the statement reads. 

In addition, grant recipients must now provide parents with advance notice, and may opt out of content or activities that “burden their religious exercise,” according to Trump’s handpicked Acting Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr. Dorothy Fink who signed off on the language. HHS is also banning the use of sexuality topics often used in educational programming that encourage teens to consider expressions of intimacy beyond unprotected vaginal penetration. HHS’s list of banned topics includes masturbation, “creating more pleasurable sexual experiences,” and “eroticization of birth control methods.”

On May 1, 2025, five affiliates of Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Trump administration for assaulting the science-backed, evidence-based TPP program. “The Department of Health and Human Services’ new standards are designed to gut age-appropriate sex education that covers the wide range of topics young people need to grow,” Dr. Flowers tells GO. “By pushing a dangerous anti-science agenda and distorting information about sex education, this administration is stripping people of the freedom and ability to access basic information to build healthy relationships and strong futures. Ultimately, the harmful consequences are devastating.”