A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Washington [official website] on Tuesday blocked [text, PDF] President Donald Trump’s administration from prematurely cutting off the Office of Adolescent Health [official website] funding awarded for science-based programs aimed at reducing teen pregnancy.

King County sued the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) [official website] when it ended funding the $5 million grant through the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP Program) [materials] for sexual education.

The TPP Program grants were distributed according to two general tiers: “Tier 1 grants to fund programs with demonstrated positive impacts on sexual behavior outcomes, and Tier 2 grants to fund development and testing of new and innovative approaches to preventing teen pregnancy.” In 2015, King County was awarded a five-year 2B grant, which focuses “on increasing ‘the number of evidence-based TPP interventions available by rigorously evaluating new or innovative approaches for preventing teen pregnancy and related high risk behaviors.'” King County’s grant was considered a “cooperative agreement” with the OAH.

In deciding the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and the defendant’s cross motion for summary judgment, Judge John Coughenour found that terminating “the project period” two years early was an “award termination within the meaning of HHS regulations.” As such, HHS violated its policies for terminating a federal award, since King County did not fail to comply with the terms and conditions of its award, nor did it consent or request the award be terminated.

Consistent with the court’s holding, the Judge Coughenour’s Order directed HHS to process King County’s application for year-four funding by August 1, absent any showing that HHS has “good cause” to terminate the grant.