Power to Decide Applauds Ruling In Favor Of Teen Pregnancy Prevention Grantees

Washington, D.C.– On Friday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of grant recipients of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program. The Court held that the termination of TPP Program grants was unlawful, and ordered the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reinstate the grants.  Power to Decide is a member of the class upon whose behalf the action was filed. This class action case, led by Healthy Futures of Texas and represented by the Public Citizen Litigation Group, is the fifth time in recent months that a federal judge found HHS’ action last July to terminate more than 80 TPP grants to be “arbitrary and capricious.”

The TPP Program, administered by the HHS Office of Adolescent Health, is an evidence-based program that funds diverse organizations working to prevent teen pregnancy across the country.  The TPP Program enjoys bipartisan support and Congress has continued full funding through FY 2018.  In addition, it has been recognized by the bipartisan Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking as an example of a federal program developing an increasingly rigorous portfolio of evidence.

In response, Ginny Ehrlich, CEO, Power to Decide, issued the following statement:

“We are gratified by the recent decision, as it will lead to hundreds of thousands of our nation’s young people receiving the information and skills they need to decide if, when and under what circumstances to get pregnant through evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programming. Further, this ruling will ensure that the TPP Program funding continues to be used for its intended purposes - high quality, evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention education. The ruling supports evidence over ideology and more importantly, high quality and accurate programs are what young people deserve.”