More than 80 hospitals and health departments will see federal funding for teen pregnancy prevention programs and research cut off by appointees of President Donald Trump at HHS.
According to Reveal, the lost funding amounts to $213.6 million. The money was awarded in 2015 as five-year grants, but projects received letters from the HHS Office of Adolescent Health saying the funding would end June 30, 2018. Funding for one $2.9 million grant split between five organizations, including the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, was eliminated immediately.
Pat Paluzzi of Baltimore’s Healthy Teen Network was one of those affected, with her program to develop an app to answer teen girls’ health questions cut for what she sees as political reasons.
“They don’t like to deal with the sexual reproductive health of teens,” Paluzzi said. “They frame it in this country as moral issues. Public health issues shouldn’t be political issues.”
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John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.