The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has terminated several multimillion-dollar grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) following the association’s criticisms of the policies of the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.
The funding cuts, which affect projects focused on issues including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and early identification of autism, were first reported by the Washington Post and made without prior notice to the AAP.
An HHS spokesperson, Andrew Nixon, told the Washington Post that the grants were terminated because they no longer aligned with departmental priorities. The Guardian has contacted HHS for comment.
HHS terminated the funding after noting that the AAP’s materials used what the department characterized as “identity-based language”, including references to racial disparities and the term “pregnant people”, according to administration officials cited by the Washington Post.
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