State health dept. confirms US cuts for pregnancy prevention, seeks other funding

More than a dozen Wisconsin organizations are affected by the Trump administration’s move last week to cut grants for teen pregnancy prevention programs, Wisconsin’s health department confirmed Wednesday.

The programs were expecting to share in almost $1 million per year over the next two years — the remaining period in the five-year grants that were cut off abruptly by the federal government in June.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which has administered the Teen Pregnancy Prevention grant program in the Office of Population Affairs through several presidential administrations, notified 53 out of 67 grant recipients on Friday, June 26, that their grants were being canceled, Stateline reported.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services was among the agencies with canceled grants. DHS was just finishing the third year of a five-year grant period.

The DHS grant totaled $1.162 million per year, and the department was expecting a similar amount for the next two fiscal years, 2026-27 and 2027-28.

Britt Cudaback, communications director for Gov. Tony Evers, said Thursday that filing a lawsuit in response to the grant terminations is “a potential option currently under consideration.”

Most of the DHS grant — $986,375 — was distributed as subgrants to local or statewide organizations and agencies. Another $175,530 was set aside for DHS to cover grant administration costs.

“All Wisconsin funding was cancelled,” DHS spokesperson Elizabeth Goodsit told the Wisconsin Examiner in an email message Wednesday.

DHS is exploring whether the department can get funding elsewhere to replace the grants the federal government canceled, and DHS is “assessing all avenues possible to ensure the federal government is following all requirements in this funding agreement,” Goodsit said.

Goodsit said the DHS teen pregnancy prevention program aimed to reduce unintended pregnancies as well as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among teenagers. Sexual health data demonstrates a need for those programs, she said.

According to CDC data, the teen birth rate in Wisconsin in 2024 was about 10 per 1,000 girls, with the rate dropping steadily in recent decades from a high of nearly 45 births per 1,000 girls in 1991.

“The overall rate is below the national average, but there are several counties with high rates,” Goodsit said. “We know the birth rates for Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, and non-Hispanic Black teens were more than two times higher than the rate for non-Hispanic White teens.”

Across all racial groups, the STI rate is 1,979 per 100,000, but rates for Black, Native American, and Hispanic youth are especially high, Goodsit said.

Teen pregnancy prevention cuts hit Wisconsin program connecting health providers and teens

The grants DHS made with the federal money supported programs for teens “in a variety of settings including clinics, schools, community-based organizations, juvenile justice settings, and shelters — with the goal of decreasing unintended youth pregnancy rates, reducing STI rates among Wisconsin adolescents, and increasing the number/percent of youth who feel connected to their community and have access to youth-friendly services and resources,” Goodsit said.

The 13 grants went to nonprofit education programs, three county public health departments, one public school district, the Department of Public Instruction and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Individual agency grants ranged from $7,500 per year to $130,375 per year.

“They are focused on populations with the highest teen birth rates and highest STI rates,” Goodsit said. “Along with youth programming, organizations were also focused on family/parent/caregiver programming and engagement.”

From July 1, 2025 through May 31, 2026, the Wisconsin organizations reached 942 youth participants and 17 non-youth participants. “But without this grant funding, these activities will stop,” Goodsit said.