The city is hoping teens’ stories will trump potential, devastating cuts to national pregnancy program.
The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released a report Thursday noting the teen pregnancy rate has declined by 60 percent from 2000 to 2015, and said it would continue to trumpet its pregnancy prevention work while the federal government weighs cutting funding.
The department credited the New York City Teens Connection, which provides sexual health education and clinical services to adolescents, with bringing the teen pregnancy rate down. The city said 83 percent of the initiative’s funding — about $2 million annually — comes from the national Teen Pregnancy Prevention program, which the government plans to defund.
For the next six weeks, the department plans to share stories from teens who have participated in New York City Teens Connection on social media.
“The planned federal funding cut to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program is a tragic and unjust move that would jeopardize the historic progress achieved by this city and others around the country,” Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a statement. “We must do all we can to continue the progress we’ve made in promoting and protecting the reproductive health of New Yorkers.”
The department said it would likely be forced to shutter the New York City Teens Connection if it lost the federal funding.
