A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration violated the law by ending grants to fund programs at Planned Parenthood aimed at preventing teen pregnancy.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rice issued a permanent injunction Tuesday night, saying ending the grants two years earlier than planned would have caused harm.
Rice, of Spokane, Wash., ruled the Department of Health and Human Services “capriciously terminated” the program and said “the public interest weighs in favor of plaintiffs, as [the order] would prevent harm to the community … and prevent loss of data regarding the effectiveness of teen pregnancy prevention.”
A judge in Washington, D.C., issued a similar ruling last week.
HHS told 81 organizations in June 2017 their five-year grants under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program would be ending in 2018, two years early. The administration said it did not find the programs, created under the Obama administration, to be effective, and has advocated for programs that promote abstinence.
HHS has pointed to a 2016 report from the Office of Adolescent Health which found 73 percent of the projects either had no impact or a negative impact on teen behavior, meaning they were more likely to start having sex, have unprotected sex, or become pregnant.
The grants have gone to various groups, including universities, nonprofits, and health departments, that carry out sex education programs, including information about contraception and abstinence, and help parents talk to teens about sex. Public health advocates have hailed the initiative as an effective way to reduce teen pregnancy, pointing to a continued reduction in rates. The birth rate among teen girls dropped 67 percent from 1991 to 2016, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
The announcement about the end of the grants, which groups said they received without explanation, resulted in multiple lawsuits. Many of those lawsuits are still pending.
Planned Parenthood, which was among the groups that sued, said it “applauds” the court’s decision.
“Today’s decision sent a clear message: The Trump-Pence administration can’t turn back progress, ignore science and the needs of young people, to push its ideological agenda,” said Rachel Todd, director of education for Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho.
