Groups sue over Trump cuts to teen pregnancy prevention program

Nine local government, health care and oversight organizations sued the Trump administration Thursday after it abruptly cut short grants aimed at ending teen pregnancy last year. 

The groups filed four lawsuits in federal courts in Washington state, Maryland and the District of Columbia challenging the administration for ending grants under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program two years sooner than planned. 

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The groups are represented by lawyers at Planned Parenthood, Democracy Forward, Public Citizen and Arnold & Porter. 

“The lawsuits ask that the funding for the program be reinstated to serve the 1.2 million young people that would benefit from the program,” Planned Parenthood said in a press release. 

In August, an office within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified 81 institutions across the U.S. that the five-year grants they were awarded would end two years sooner than planned.

The TPP, created in 2010 under former President Obama, funds organizations working to reduce and prevent teen pregnancy, with a focus on reaching populations with the greatest need.

But HHS informed the recipients in their annual grant award letters that programs would end in 2018 rather than in 2020, a cut of about $200 million over two years.

The TPP program has funded initiatives in 39 states.

“The Trump administration is attempting to unlawfully terminate a successful program to reduce teen pregnancy based on an ideologically driven crusade,” said Sean Sherman, an attorney at the Public Citizen.