On Wednesday night, Judge Catherine Blake of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ruled in Baltimore City’s favor in our Teen Pregnancy Prevention suit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Judge Blake granted the City’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that the federal government’s decision-making was arbitrary and capricious.

This victory is a victory for the youth of Baltimore City, and for the use of science and evidence in education and health. It means that students in our City will continue to receive evidence-based, science-based teen pregnancy prevention education. It means that we will continue to be able to build capacity for teachers who are specifically trained to teach physiology, STD and HIV prevention, and holistic curricula to empower teens to make the best choices for themselves. It means that we will be able to continue our work in reducing teen birth rates, which fell 61% in Baltimore between 2000 and 2016—and that we will not roll back the gains that we have made.

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HEALTH PROFESSIONALS shouldn't wait for the perfect data to come along before planning interventions to improve population health, experts say, because there is no perfect data. 

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By issuing this ruling, Judge Blake vacated HHS’s decision to prematurely terminate Baltimore’s five-year Teen Pregnancy Prevention Grant, and ordered HHS to process Baltimore’s application for continued funding under the grant.  Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen talked with WEAA’s Julius White about the ruling.

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A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from terminating grants issued through a teen pregnancy prevention program, marking the third time in a week that a court has held that the administration’s 2017 decision was unlawful.

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