For more than a decade, a group of nonprofit providers has worked together to reduce Oklahoma County's teen pregnancy rate — which was once almost twice as high as the U.S. average.
This summer, the federal government terminated a nearly $2 million annual grant funding their work, threatening the existence of public health initiatives the organizations said helped decrease teen birth rates by more than 28% in Oklahoma County between 2015 and 2024.
The Oklahoma City-County Health Department (OCCHD) administered the federal grant. The health department was one of 53 of 67 grantees nationwide notified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in late June that funding would stop two years early.
In the fleet of cancellation letters, the government said the programming included "content that encourages, normalizes or promotes sexual activity for minors." Abstinence-only programs were included in the cuts.
In Oklahoma County, OCCHD distributed the funds to Variety Care and TeenEmpower. The two local nonprofits used it to expand access to reproductive health resources and provide teen pregnancy prevention education to teens in central Oklahoma.
Educators used "medically accurate, age-appropriate and evidence-based teen health curriculums," according to Lisa Harrington, the Health Promotion Officer at OCCHD.
Christine Joachims, the Interim Executive Director of TeenEmpower, said the loss of federal funding will substantially decrease her organization's ability to serve teens. Its staff of five educators provides sexual health education in five central Oklahoma middle schools, reaching thousands of students each year.
"They've really come to rely on having these programs to teach that basic sex education, HIV/AIDS prevention, informed consent," Joachims said.
All of the curricula for TeenEmpower and Variety Care — whose representatives declined to be interviewed for this article — were either chosen from a list provided by the federal government or approved by federal officials, Harrington said. She said the materials focused on more than just teen pregnancy prevention and included topics like mental health and intimate partner violence.
"If you ignore an issue, it's never going to improve," she said. "Our job as a public health department is to make those improvements in the health of the communities that we serve, and teens are a large part of our community."
Oklahoma County part of national cuts
The canceled five-year federal grants were part of the national Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program, administered by the Office of Population Affairs. The $100 million funding stream was established by Congress in 2010 to support teen education to reduce unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections among young adults. The decision received bipartisan support.
President Donald Trump signaled the funding cuts in an April budget request, which said the grants were supporting "problematic organizations like abortion clinics that waste American taxpayer dollars on abortion services and promote radical leftist ideology."
The cancellation came after many grant recipients, including OCCHD, had adjusted their teaching materials at Trump's request last year to better align with his anti-DEI and abstinence-based educational priorities.
TPP dollars were threatened during Trump's first term. HHS notified recipients that their funding would end two years early, but the decision was reversed in 2018 after grantees sued.
This time, instead of cutting funding completely, the federal government issued two new grant opportunities with the same allocation. The new notices called for programs that prioritize "body literacy" education and the "protection of parental rights." New criteria said grant recipients must teach abstinence as the only means to prevent teen pregnancy and courses must stress the importance of marriage and procreation.
Grant opportunities were also opened to a wider array of applicants, including for-profit organizations or small businesses.
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in August, blocking the government from redirecting the money. The judge claimed, under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Trump administration can't "impose conditions on grant recipients that Congress did not intend or that are unreasonable or unexplained."
But the judge declined to restore the tens of millions of TPP funds sexual health educators lost, saying he wasn't sure if the court had the power to do so.
Mickie Smith is the CEO of honestly, a nonprofit that tracks teen pregnancy outcomes in Oklahoma County and supports local providers. She said there will be a direct impact if the money does not come back to the community.
"These funds helped provide resources and education that allowed young people and their families to better understand the physical and emotional changes that occur during puberty, make informed decisions, and build healthy relationships," she said.
Teen pregnancy prevention in schools
Oklahoma law does not require schools to teach sex education, outside of instruction about HIV and AIDS prevention. According to state statute, no student shall be required to participate in a sex education class or program which discusses sexual behavior or attitudes if a parent or guardian of the student objects in writing, or "opts out."
Joachims from TeenEmpower said the nonprofit takes parental consent a step further. The organization requires parents to actively "opt-in," or agree that their child can receive instruction. She said parents are also offered the opportunity to review the curriculum and ask questions about the material.
Most parents want their teens to participate, she said, and those teens are eager to learn. Many of them are trying to make sense of content they may have been exposed to on social media, she added.
"Of course you want it to be developmentally appropriate and age-appropriate, but I think it's always a good thing to inform kids about their bodies, their rights, what boundaries look like," she said.
TeenEmpower educators also train teens at local high schools who elect to help educate their middle school peers. TeenEmpower trained 17 teens this summer who will take an active role in facilitating this year's lessons, Joachims said. It's a unique aspect of their programming that made her want to join the organization.
"It helps the middle schoolers talk about topics that may otherwise feel awkward or uncomfortable, but are really important to talk about, like safety and consent," she said. "It's also really beneficial for the high schoolers because they get that adult mentorship through our staff."
TeenEmpower was included in a pending grant application for the new TPP funding in collaboration with the OU Hudson College of Public Health Affairs and Variety Care. Joachims said the education her organization provides already emphasizes abstinence, and they were a strong candidate.
But now that the disbursement of funds has been canceled, her organization is in a precarious position.
While Oklahoma County's teen birth rate has continued to decline, the county remains a high-need area for sustained investment. In 2024, there were 583 births to Oklahoma County residents between ages 15 and 19. That's a larger number of teen births than any other county in the state.
Oklahoma remains one of the states with the highest teen birth rates in the country.
"We want to support the community in what their needs are," Joachims said. "We also need community support to do that."
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
