Federal Sex Education Cuts and Abstinence-Only Policies Spark Debate Over Teen Health and Fertility
We’ll talk about the Trump administration’s policies, defunding of programs, and best practices for educating teens about a loaded topic.
The Trump administration has pulled millions of dollars of funding for teen pregnancy prevention programs nationwide and is pushing for abstinence-only sex ed. (Getty Images)
Airdate: Thursday, August 13, 2026 at 9 AM
The Trump administration has pulled millions of dollars of funding for teen pregnancy prevention programs nationwide as part of its push for abstinence-only sex ed. Many states, including California, have embraced comprehensive sex ed requiring students to learn about reproduction as well as topics such as consent and contraception. Experts have credited such programs for helping cause the teen pregnancy rate to plummet and say federal policies and loss of funding could prove harmful in the long term and may be part of a larger agenda to encourage childbirth. We’ll talk about the Trump administration’s policies, defunding of programs, and best practices for educating teens about a loaded topic.
Guests:
- Shafia Zaloom, health educator; consultant; author, “Sex, Teens, and Everything in Between” and ” Getting Real About Sex Ed”
- Alice Miranda Ollstein, senior health care reporter, Politico; author, “Side Effects: How Abortion Bans Impact Everyone’s Health”
- Robin Pickering, professor and chair of public health, Gonzaga University; author, “A Modern Approach to the Birds and the Bees”