(National Review) This month, the Trump administration has faced a great deal of criticism from mainstream media outlets for changes it is making to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP).

Started during the Obama administration, the TPPP allocates ten of millions of dollars annually to various organizations seeking to reduce teen pregnancy rates in the United States. The Trump administration has recently issued new guidelines for the program. In particular, the Trump administration wants to fund teen pregnancy prevention programs that emphasize abstinence, fertility awareness, and marriage.

Most of the criticism from the mainstream media is, of course, ideological.

The mainstream media frown on abstinence programs and would rather see the TPPP fund programs that emphasize contraception use. That said, much of the media coverage of both teen pregnancy trends and the TPPP program itself has been very misleading.

READ: Federalist: HHS finds teen pregnancy prevention programs are not working

First, several commentators and media outlets often give the wrong impression that the teen pregnancy rate decline in the United States started with inception of the TPPP in 2010. In reality, data from both Guttmacher and the CDC shows that the teen pregnancy rate decline actually started in the early 1990s.

Interestingly, data from both the Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the National Survey of Family Growth find consistent declines in the percentage of sexually active teenagers since the early 1990s.

Secondly, many media outlets indicate that programs funded by the TPPP have been effective at lowering teen pregnancy rates. However, HHS’s own Office of Adolescent Health published two reports in 2017 evaluating the results of the TPPP’s grants. Of the 38 programs studied, only three reported long-term reductions in the incidence of unprotected sex, and only one program reported a long-term reduction in overall rates of teen sexual activity. Similarly, a 2018 Mathematica analysis found a very small percentage of TPPP funded programs were effective at lowering teen pregnancy rates.

Overall, a strong body of academic research that shows that programs to promote contraceptive use among teenagers are ineffective at best and counterproductive at worst.

During the first Trump administration, HHS personnel made a concerted effort to shift TPPP grants away from programs that emphasized contraception use and toward programs that promoted abstinence. However, these efforts were largely unsuccessful because many Obama-era grantees successfully litigated to retain funding.

Conservatives should hope that this time the Trump administration is more successful in reforming the TPPP.

(National Review) This month, the Trump administration has faced a great deal of criticism from mainstream media outlets for changes it is making to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP).

Started during the Obama administration, the TPPP allocates ten of millions of dollars annually to various organizations seeking to reduce teen pregnancy rates in the United States. The Trump administration has recently issued new guidelines for the program. In particular, the Trump administration wants to fund teen pregnancy prevention programs that emphasize abstinence, fertility awareness, and marriage.

Most of the criticism from the mainstream media is, of course, ideological.

The mainstream media frown on abstinence programs and would rather see the TPPP fund programs that emphasize contraception use. That said, much of the media coverage of both teen pregnancy trends and the TPPP program itself has been very misleading.

READ: Federalist: HHS finds teen pregnancy prevention programs are not working

First, several commentators and media outlets often give the wrong impression that the teen pregnancy rate decline in the United States started with inception of the TPPP in 2010. In reality, data from both Guttmacher and the CDC shows that the teen pregnancy rate decline actually started in the early 1990s.

Interestingly, data from both the Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the National Survey of Family Growth find consistent declines in the percentage of sexually active teenagers since the early 1990s.

Secondly, many media outlets indicate that programs funded by the TPPP have been effective at lowering teen pregnancy rates. However, HHS’s own Office of Adolescent Health published two reports in 2017 evaluating the results of the TPPP’s grants. Of the 38 programs studied, only three reported long-term reductions in the incidence of unprotected sex, and only one program reported a long-term reduction in overall rates of teen sexual activity. Similarly, a 2018 Mathematica analysis found a very small percentage of TPPP funded programs were effective at lowering teen pregnancy rates.

Overall, a strong body of academic research that shows that programs to promote contraceptive use among teenagers are ineffective at best and counterproductive at worst.

During the first Trump administration, HHS personnel made a concerted effort to shift TPPP grants away from programs that emphasized contraception use and toward programs that promoted abstinence. However, these efforts were largely unsuccessful because many Obama-era grantees successfully litigated to retain funding.

Conservatives should hope that this time the Trump administration is more successful in reforming the TPPP.