ACT NOW: Teen Pregnancy Prevention Funding at Risk

ACT NOW: Teen Pregnancy Prevention Funding at Risk

According to the Healthy Teen Network
From the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy

On Tuesday, July 17, 2012, the House Appropriations Committee released its draft Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (LHHS) Appropriations bill, which the House LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee voted on last week, and which may be voted on by the full House Appropriations Committee as early as this week.

The House draft bill reduces funding for the evidence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP) from its current $105 Million to $40 Million for FY 2013, and provides that $20 Million of that money must be spent on abstinence-only programs without requiring that these programs meet the high standards of evidence required y the TPPP.  Additionally, PREP could also be eliminated, as the bill seeks not to fund the Affordable Care Act.  It is essential to continue TPPP's current funding levels. Any reduction in TPPP funding would harm ongoing teen pregnancy prevention programs serving 200,000 teens in about 100 communities around the country.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

If your Member of Congress is on the House LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee, please contact them  and urge them to support level funding for the evidence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program at $105 Million for FY 2013.  If your member of Congress is on the full House Appropriations Committee, please contact them as soon as possible with the same message.

Here are some key points you can make:

• TPPP funds evidence-based programs that have proven outcomes in changing behavior and reducing teen pregnancy.
• TPPP and the formula-granted Personal Responsibility Education Program PREP (which is the only other funding stream dedicated to evidence-based approaches to prevent teen pregnancy), serve fewer than 2 percent of all teens in the country.
• TPPP ultimately saves taxpayer dollars. Teen moms are less likely to complete high school or college.  And the children of teen parents are more likely to rely on public programs and to become teen parents themselves, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and increasing costs to taxpayers. (For more information on the costs of teen childbearing in your state go to: http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/costs/default.aspx)
• Cutting funds from current TPPP grantees would take away flexibility from communities, open the door to funding ineffective programs, and disrupt the 200,000 youth being served in 100 communities that are currently being served through TPPP grants, which already fund a variety of evidence-based abstinence programs.
• Please support level funding for the evidence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program at $105M for FY 2013.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Rachel Fey, Senior Manager of Public Policy at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.