Attorney General James Takes Action to Defend Health Education Programs

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James at the moment joined a coalition of 15 different attorneys common in suing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for illegally requiring states to vary sexual education schemes to erase references to gender identification and transgender standing. The administration has threatened to withhold tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from two grant packages, the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) and Title V Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE), until states comply with censor their curricula and programming. In a lawsuit filed at the moment within the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, Attorney General James and the coalition argue that the administration’s necessities are unlawful and can undermine efficient sexual education schemes, rising the dangers of teenage being pregnant and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), notably among the many most susceptible younger individuals. Attorney General James and the coalition are asking the court docket to order the administration to halt its unlawful circumstances on these grant funds.

“Comprehensive sex education programs can save lives and help teens navigate the challenges of young adulthood,” mentioned Attorney General James. “These new restrictions threaten to undermine effective and educational health programs that help reduce teen pregnancy and dangerous sexually transmitted infections. I will not allow this administration to put young people at risk by prioritizing politics over providing accurate and important health information.”

Established in 1996, SRAE grants permit states to supply crucial sexual well being education schemes that train about teen being pregnant and the avoidance of STIs. PREP was established beneath the Affordable Care Act and is without doubt one of the largest federally funded packages designed to deal with teen being pregnant and STIs. Both packages are extremely efficient. After taking part in PREP, college students report being extra prone to abstain from intercourse, extra doubtless to make use of contraception in the event that they plan to have intercourse, and extra doubtless to withstand or say no to strain to have intercourse. Most youth reported constructive perceptions of PREP packages, with 88 % reporting that they felt revered as individuals throughout this system.

States that lose their federal PREP and SRAE funding could be compelled to put off sexual well being schooling professionals and shutter sexual well being education schemes. As Attorney General James and the coalition argue, this could be harmful for younger individuals all through the nation. People aged 15 to 24 already symbolize half of latest STI infections, regardless of representing solely 1 / 4 of the sexually energetic inhabitants. Teen moms are extra doubtless than different youngsters to be socially remoted, confront psychological well being points, and have fewer academic and employment alternatives. LGBTQ youth, who’re already at greater danger for sexual assault, teen being pregnant, STIs, and psychological well being challenges, could be particularly damage by an absence of efficient sexual education schemes.

In August 2025, HHS modified the circumstances for awarding PREP and SRAE funds to ban utilizing grant funds for any packages that present details about or acknowledge the existence of transgender, intersex, or nonbinary individuals. These new circumstances had been primarily based on the Trump administration’s false and medically inaccurate coverage recognizing “only two sexes, male and female,” and treating intercourse and gender as unchangeable. 

HHS has demanded that states censor curricula which were in use for years and which were efficient in lowering dangerous behaviors and enhancing well being outcomes for younger individuals. HHS warned states that failure to conform would outcome within the lack of grant funds. States had been confronted with an inconceivable alternative between dropping important funding or modifying their curricula with incorrect data, in violation of legal guidelines that require sexual education schemes to supply medically correct and full data. Either alternative would hurt the very youth and public well being objectives these packages are designed to guard.

Attorney General James and the coalition argue that the brand new restrictions on PREP and SRAE funds are unlawful and unconstitutional. The legal guidelines that govern PREP and SRAE, along with HHS guidelines, prohibit discrimination on the idea of intercourse and gender identification, but the administration’s new restrictions would pressure states to discriminate by requiring the erasure of any point out of gender identification in curriculum supplies. The new PREP and SRAE restrictions additionally violate the Constitution’s Spending and Separation of Powers clauses by usurping Congress’s authority to direct spending. Attorney General James and the coalition are requesting a court docket order stopping the administration from implementing its restrictions on PREP and SRAE funds.

Joining Attorney General James in submitting this lawsuit are the attorneys common of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.