The Trump administration is pulling the plug on a $213 million federal program to prevent teen pregnancy, a program that medical professionals credit with helping bring the teen pregnancy rate to an all-time low.

It's pure politics, and Dallas is about to become collateral damage.

According to memos obtained by NBC News, three political appointees with pro-abstinence beliefs balked at continuing the program, which had bipartisan support in Congress and has trained more than 7,000 health professionals and supported 3,000 community-based organizations since it began in 2010. But unless the administration changes course, the outreach work being done by 81 organizations is in jeopardy.

In Dallas, the North Texas Alliance to Reduce Unintended Pregnancy in Teens will lose nearly $1 million a year, a significant part of its budget. Officials will have to scramble to raise money if they are to maintain the group's outreach.

"It will have a tremendous impact," warns Terry Greenberg, chief executive officer of NTARUPT. "If we are going to address poverty, then we have to address teen pregnancy."

Greenberg's organization is working on strategically targeted plans to reduce an embarrassingly high teen pregnancy rate in Dallas. Although teen birthrates are declining in Dallas, as they are in the rest of the nation, they are well above the national average. In some Dallas ZIP codes, the rates are four times the rest of the nation's. In 2015, for example, the national teen pregnancy rate for girls ages 15 to 19 was 22 per 1,000. In South Dallas, the rate was 123 per 1,000.

The ripple impacts are substantial. Girls who have a child before they turn 18 are more likely to drop out of high school, making it nearly impossible for them to get a good job and a financially secure future. And if these girls move out of their parents' homes, statistics show, 68 percent will end up mired below the poverty line.

Dallas County also pays a price for teen births, providing assistance to teen moms and their children. Kids of teenage mothers tend to score lower on school readiness assessments. They're more likely to bounce through the foster care system. Sons are more likely to be incarcerated; girls more likely to encounter abuse.

It took decades for researchers to find ways to effectively approach prevention and to direct enough funds to apply solutions on a large scale. With the slash of a pen, the administration has ignored science and success, putting ideology over a program that communities need. The administration should restore funding now.

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