FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 4th, 2026

Contact: Sarah Wing

swing@siecus.org

On February 3rd, 2026, Congress approved a comprehensive FY26 spending bill that includes key funding and policy decisions affecting adolescent sexual and reproductive health and sex education programs nationwide.

In this final agreement, Congress maintained level FY 2025 funding for federally funded adolescent sexual and reproductive health programs, including the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP). In addition, the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), another critical adolescent sexual health program, was reauthorized and approved at FY25 funding levels under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This funding ensures that critical prevention, education, and support services for young people can continue uninterrupted in the immediate term.

While level funding provides important stability for now, it is also a temporary safeguard. Earlier FY26 proposals sought to eliminate funding for TPP while proposing an increase in funding for Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRAE), which supports ineffective and harmful abstinence-only programming. The fact that these cuts were seriously considered signals that effective and comprehensive programs like TPP remain vulnerable in future appropriations negotiations.

Our government came far too close to seeing federal funds solely used to support programs rooted in misinformation rather than evidence-based sexual and reproductive health education for young people.

Continued vigilance and advocacy will be essential to ensure federally funded evidence-based programs such as TPP and PREP are protected and strengthened in the years ahead. For more information, please visit our 2026 Legislative Lookahead, where we examine these developments and what they mean for the future of sex education policy.

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SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change has served as a leading national voice for sex education since 1964, asserting that sexuality is a fundamental part of being human, one worthy of dignity and respect. Through advocacy, policy, and coalition building, SIECUS advances sex education as a vehicle for social change—where all people receive sex education, are affirmed in their identities, and have the power to make decisions about their own health, pleasure, and wholeness.