A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has dealt a blow to the Department of Health and Human Services, halting a policy that would have forced Planned Parenthood and other teen pregnancy grant recipients to overhaul their programs to meet new federal rules on diversity, equity, and transgender issues.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sided with Planned Parenthood affiliates, calling the HHS guidance “too vague” and criticizing the agency for offering little justification for its rollout. The ruling vacates the policy, effectively blocking enforcement.
The policy, announced in July, had directed organizations receiving Teen Pregnancy Prevention grants—part of a $100 million-plus federal pot—to strip their programs of any “ideological content” regarding gender identity or DEI principles. HHS defended the measure as a safeguard against content it deemed to undermine parental rights or promote “radical gender ideology.”
Planned Parenthood affiliates argued that compliance would have forced them to restructure programming in ways that could render the initiatives ineffective. They also faced a catch-22: either risk losing grant money by following a vague policy or forgo funding while the legal challenge played out. According to court records, they chose the latter.
HHS countered by claiming the policy wasn’t yet enforced and lacked binding consequences, making it premature to challenge. Judge Howell rejected that argument, noting that the organizations had already suffered tangible harm by being unable to access the funding. She also pointed out that HHS provided no documentation explaining how compliance should be achieved, leaving recipients exposed to arbitrary enforcement.
The case, Planned Parenthood of New York v. Department of Health and Human Services, marks a significant check on the administration’s approach to federal teen pregnancy programs, signaling that agencies must provide clear guidance before imposing sweeping new rules.
