Judge blocks Trump policy on ‘gender ideology’ in teen pregnancy programs
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A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from forcing recipients of federal grants for teen pregnancy prevention to follow new rules targeting “radical indoctrination” and “sexist ideology.”
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said President Donald Trump’s order “was motivated solely by political concerns, devoid of any thoughtful process or analysis, and ignorant of the legal emphasis on evidence-based programming.”
The ruling was a victory for Planned Parenthood affiliates in California, Iowa and New York, who had sued to try to block the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) policy change from taking effect. This provision applies to all organizations receiving grants.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program, declined to comment on Tuesday’s ruling.
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President Donald Trump suspends an executive order after signing it at the presidential inauguration in Washington on January 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
The Department of Health and Human Services previously said in a policy document issued in July that the program’s guidance “ensures that taxpayer dollars no longer support content that undermines parental rights, promotes extremist gender ideology, or exposes children to sexually explicit material in the name of public health.”
Planned Parenthood affiliates argued that the new guidance conflicted with the program’s requirements and was so vague that it was not clear how to comply with it.
An address sign sits outside a Planned Parenthood branch on May 16, 2023, in Pasadena, California. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
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Howell agreed, writing in her ruling that HHS’s policy presented requirements that were “inexplicably vague” and “apparently relied on irrelevant ideological factors, and did not justify its change of position.”
The US Department of Health and Human Services building in Washington on Monday, July 13, 2020. (Caroline Bryman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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The changes to the birth control program were part of a series of executive orders that Trump signed on his first day back in the White House.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.