Trump administration's new teen pregnancy prevention programme actually means for women
Questions have been raised over Donald Trump team's latest decision to refocus US teen pregnancy programmes onto abstinence-only sex education, and what it means for women in America.
The President's administration has already blocked federal payments going to adolescent sex education organisations across the US, including a $1.6 million grant for the Columbia, South Carolina teen pregnancy prevention project Fact Forward.
The nonprofit firm has been accused of encouraging extreme liberal views and behaviour on sexuality, including by allegedly encouraging premarital sex.
A Fact Forward spokesperson denied these claims, accusing Government officials of distorting their content for ulterior purposes.
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During his first stint in the Oval Office, between 2016 and 2010, Trump's team launched their campaign to cut funding and overhaul the $100 million Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program previously put in place to reduce teen birth rates.
The project was created in 2010 by Congress, with funding having been renewed on a bipartisan basis ever since, including in this year's budget bill.
Since its introduction, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded a 72 per cent decline in teen pregnancies, which experts have put down to birth control, contraception and sex-ed access.
Instead of focusing on sexual health and pregnancy education, however, the right-wing team - led by Department of Health and Human Services lead, Robert F. Kennedy Jr - are now steering millions of dollars in conservative programmes that emphasise the importance of abstinence, marriage and procreation.
Fertility tracking will also be a key focus of organisations, as opposed to providing young people with information on contraception, sexually transmitted diseases and abortion.
To be eligible for funding now, programs must include counselling on reproductive goals, and 'affirm marriage and parenthood as meaningful and value components of adult life', the Republican administration's new rules.
They must also 'promote optimal health through an upstream, preventive approach by emphasising root-cause understanding of chronic health conditions that may impact overall health and fertility', which is understood to reference the hotly debated 'restorative reproductive medicine' alternative to IVF.
A horde of other sex education grant holders will now decide whether to bother applying for another round of payments this week under these new rules.
For many American women, critics say the changes could have consequences that stretch far beyond the classroom.
Public health experts argue that comprehensive sex education gives young people the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about contraception, consent and healthy relationships, helping to reduce accidental pregnancies and STIs.
By shifting the focus towards abstinence, marriage and fertility awareness, opponents fear teenagers - particularly those in low-income and underserved communities - might lose access to medically accurate information.
Women's health advocates also warn that the policy reflects a broader shift in reproductive healthcare under the Trump administration, with greater emphasis on family formation over pregnancy prevention, raising concerns about young women's ability to make informed choices about their own bodies.
Amongst them is Callie Simon. The executive director of Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States slammed the Trump administration's termination of grants as a 'reckless' decision.
She added that it's 'already hurting young people and disrupting proven programs in communities nationwide'.
There are also concerns that the traditionalist new criteria for the groups will ostracise and alienate LGBTQ+ youngsters.
"We are fighting back because young people deserve medically accurate, inclusive sex education, not ideological programs that ignore the evidence, violate the law, and put their health and well-being at risk," Simon added, as per The Independent.
Her company is amongst the handful that have taken legal action in a bid to stop the changes to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program.
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics, Pregnancy, Women's Health
Rhianna Benson