Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration's Abstinence-Only Overhaul of Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program

US District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, granted a preliminary injunction on Wednesday, August 19, 2026 blocking the Trump administration's abstinence-only overhaul of the federally funded Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, ruling the new policy was 'likely arbitrary and capricious.' The Department of Health and Human Services had canceled 53 of the program's 67 grants at the end of June, affecting grantees in more than two dozen states including Louisiana, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas. Three affected grantees and the advocacy group SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change sued in DC federal court on July 14. The injunction blocks further implementation of the policy changes but does not restore the dozens of grants already canceled over the summer unless the administration acts on its own.