Trump Administration Sued Over Ending Teen Pregnancy Programs

Nine organizations including the nonprofit Planned Parenthood filed lawsuits Thursday against President Donald Trump’s administration challenging its decision to defund more than $200 million in teen pregnancy prevention grants, Reuters reported.

The four separate lawsuits filed in the United States District Courts in the Eastern District of Washington, in Maryland and the District of Columbia argued the grants for the program that funds teen pregnancy prevention campaigns was wrongfully terminated.

The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP) introduced by the Congress during the Obama administration helped serve 1.2 million young people in the country. The program was created to find approaches to curb teen pregnancy rate and provide best options for at-risk youths.

The U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) abruptly ended the five-year program two years ahead of schedule without divulging any details behind the move.

Attorneys of Planned Parenthood, Democracy Forward and Public Citizen accused the Trump administration of ending the program based on ideological beliefs devoid of any scientific reasoning.

“The Trump administration’s abrupt decision to strip funding from teen pregnancy prevention programs shown to be effective was made by President Trump’s political appointees over the objections of independent experts and the medical community,” said Democracy Forward's Executive Director Anne Harkavy.

“By jeopardizing teen pregnancy prevention programs throughout the country, the Trump Administration continues to put the health of women and girls at risk,” she added.

Democracy Forward filed a suit after the Trump administration refused to disclose documents relating to the termination of the program. According to one of the lawsuits, there's been a significant decrease in numbers of teen pregnancy since the inception of the program. The teen birth rate in the U.S. has reduced by 41% from 2010 to 2016.

HHS currently funds 84 grants under the program, however in July the department said they would be terminating 81 of those grants two years early.

The lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood said the decision to terminate the program entangles government with religion and goes against the congress mandate that HHS fund "medically accurate and age appropriate programs that reduce teen pregnancy,"

"HHS is not at liberty to ignore the clear statutory mandate in favor of programs that are more in line with its ideological objectives. Nor may it make religiously-motivated and coercive spending decisions," the lawsuits stated.

This comes months after four teenagers, who were under the supervision of the Office of Refugee Resettlement led by Scott Lloyd in October, were prevented from terminating their pregnancy by the administration by blocking their access to abortion. The legal documents were disclosed by the lawyers of American Civil Liberties Union.

HHS did not comment on the reasoning behind the termination, however in the past they have deemed the program a waste of taxpayer’s dollars.