The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has provided only $579,499 of the $101 million Congress set aside this year for teen pregnancy prevention, leaving more than $100 million undistributed days before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. The figures come from a letter signed by 92 members of Congress and sent to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sept. 25. According to the letter, that money went to a single grantee.
The funding supports the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, which Congress established in 2010. HHS cut off grants to dozens of nonprofits, universities, and health departments in June. In August, a federal judge blocked new abstinence-only requirements for the program but did not restore the canceled grants.
