HHS Moves Toward Abstinence Education

July 29, 2026

Written with the assistance of AI

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made significant changes to the federal Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program, signaling a shift in both funding priorities and program expectations.

In July 2025, HHS released a new policy notice reaffirming that the TPP Program's primary purpose is to reduce teen pregnancy through medically accurate and age-appropriate education. The policy also stated that federal funds should not be used for content that HHS believes encourages, normalizes, or promotes sexual activity for minors or falls outside the program's intended purpose. The guidance further emphasized parental rights by requiring grant recipients to provide advance notice and opportunities for parents to opt their children out of certain program content.

Then, in 2026, HHS terminated dozens of existing Teen Pregnancy Prevention grants, stating that many no longer aligned with the department's priorities. At the same time, the agency announced a new funding opportunity for organizations to replicate evidence-based programs that reduce teen pregnancy through medically accurate, age-appropriate education while helping adolescents develop healthy decision-making skills and clarify reproductive life goals.

HHS is now placing greater emphasis on programs that encourage abstinence-until-marriage, uphold parental involvement, and avoid content the department considers promoting sexual activity among minors. The newly released federal guidance for grants for what is called Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) is providing grantees bonus points for applications that include clear abstinence-until-marriage instruction with a marriage-centered approach. From the Federal Notice of Funding Opportunity:

Abstinence Education

Marriage-centered sexual risk Avoidance Approach (Up to 10 bonus points)

Applicants may receive up to 10 bonus points for proposing a program model that advances a marriage-centered approach to sexual risk avoidance education by promoting healthy marriage and family formation as optimal contexts for long-term flourishing, while maintaining an instructional focus exclusively on abstinence until marriage. 

To qualify for these bonus points, applicants must:

• Certify that grant-funded educational activities will only provide educational content related to abstinence education.

  
  

• Provide curriculum materials, implementation plans, or other documentation demonstrating alignment with this marriage-centered sexual risk avoidance approach.