Federal health officials have abruptly cut a roughly $1.16 million per year teen pregnancy prevention grant to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, suddenly stripping dozens of local programs of federal support they had been counting on. State health leaders say the move immediately halts services that reached nearly 1,000 young people this year and leaves nonprofits and county health departments scrambling to plug the hole. Officials in Madison and at the governor’s office say legal and funding options are under review as agencies try to keep programs alive.
Federal cancellations hit dozens of programs
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified 53 of 67 recipients of its Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program that their awards would be canceled effective June 26, a move that affects grantees in more than two dozen states, according to Stateline. The agency told grantees the awards no longer aligned with HHS priorities and said it would make new funding available under different solicitations. The nationwide cancellations amount to roughly $68 million, Stateline reported.
How much Wisconsin lost
Federal grant records show the Wisconsin award was about $1.162 million per year under the state's TPP project, according to HHS' grant database. Reporting compiled for Wisconsin outlets shows most of that, about $986,375, had been routed to local subgrantees while roughly $175,530 was reserved for DHS administration costs, leaving multiple community programs suddenly without promised federal dollars.
State officials react
"All Wisconsin funding was cancelled," DHS spokesperson Elizabeth Goodsitt wrote in an email to local reporters, and she said the department is assessing "all avenues possible" to replace the lost support, the Wisconsin Examiner reported. The grants had funded programs meant to reduce unintended teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. The need is clear, the agency noted, and CDC data show Wisconsin's teen birth rate was about 9.7 births per 1,000 girls ages 15-19 in 2024.
Who the grants supported
The federal dollars supported 13 nonprofit education programs, three county public health departments, one public school district, the state Department of Public Instruction and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, with individual awards ranging from roughly $7,500 to $130,375 per year. According to local reporting, the sites reached about 942 youth participants (and 17 non-youth participants) between July 1, 2025 and May 31, 2026, services that public health partners say will be disrupted without replacement funding.
What Washington says and what’s next
Federal officials told grantees the prior awards did not align with the agency's current priorities and opened new solicitations aimed at replicating effective prevention models and funding rigorous evaluations. The new opportunities, posted on the federal grants portal, total roughly $71.7 million and are being advertised as replacement funding streams by HHS and its Office of Population Affairs, according to the grants listing.
Legal options and precedent
The governor’s communications director, Britt Cudaback, said filing a lawsuit is "a potential option currently under consideration," local reporting shows. State attorneys have previously joined multistate challenges to federal changes in teen pregnancy funding conditions, a move the Wisconsin Department of Justice documented when it joined other states in 2025 to contest new federal grant conditions, suggesting litigation is a realistic next step for some officials.
For now, DHS officials say they are exploring alternate funding and are reviewing the federal agreements to determine whether the cancellations followed required procedures. Local health providers and nonprofits are meanwhile assessing which programs can continue and which will have to pause without replacement dollars.
