The new teen pregnancy prevention plan isn’t that focused on prevention

The Trump administration is redirecting funding for teen pregnancy prevention programs toward organizations promoting "restorative reproductive medicine"—an approach that emphasizes fertility tracking, abstinence education, and marital commitment while steering away from contraception access and comprehensive sex education. According to the 19th, the shift moves away from evidence-based programs serving high-need communities that have proven effective. Since the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program was established in 2010 on a bipartisan basis, teen birth rates have fallen about 72 percent, with academic research crediting more comprehensive sex education and better contraception access for much of that decline. The new funding terms require "body literacy" modules emphasizing the menstrual cycle and ovulation as indicators of fertility and health. But experts—including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists—caution that the restorative reproductive medicine approach can be "ineffective and redundant," and researchers warn that abstinence-only programs historically result in higher, not lower, teen pregnancy rates.

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