AG James vs. HHS: Battle Over Sex Ed Funding Hits Court

New York Attorney General Letitia James has joined forces with 15 other state attorneys general in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). They are challenging HHS’s directive to remove transgender and nonbinary health information from sexual education programs, threatening to withhold millions in grant funds.

The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, argues that the administration’s actions are illegal and detrimental to effective sex education. James states, “These new restrictions threaten to undermine effective and educational health programs that help reduce teen pregnancy and dangerous sexually transmitted infections.”

Both the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) and Title V Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) grants have been instrumental in providing critical sexual health education. The PREP program, established under the Affordable Care Act, has been shown to increase abstinence rates among teens and improve their ability to use contraception if they choose to be sexually active.

States facing funding loss would be forced to lay off sexual health educators and close programs, a move that Attorney General James and her coalition argue is dangerous for young people. The coalition points out that 15-24-year-olds represent half of new STI infections, despite being only a quarter of the sexually active population.

In August 2025, HHS altered the conditions for PREP and SRAE funding to ban the use of grant funds for programs acknowledging transgender, intersex, or nonbinary individuals. The administration cited a false policy that recognized only two sexes, male and female, as the basis for this new stance.

HHS demanded states censor curricula that had been in place for years, warning of funding loss for non-compliance. The lawsuit is seen as a crucial battle for accurate health information and the well-being of young people across the country.