Planned Parenthood is best known as the nation’s largest abortion provider, but the organization is no slouch in the “gender-affirming care” department either.
Some Planned Parenthood affiliates offer prescriptions for cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers to clients as young as 16 without a referral from a mental health care provider and as early as their first visit to a clinic.
The first affiliate began providing hormones in 2005, but the organization’s growing role in the gender transition business could be what tips the balance as House Republicans make an unprecedented push to defund Planned Parenthood.
The House budget reconciliation bill includes language to pull federal funding from Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers for 10 years, spurring outrage from Democrats and cheers from pro-life advocates.
“This is a historic moment for the pro-life movement and for people of good conscience and good faith because we are closer than we have ever been to stopping the forced taxpayer funding of the biggest abortion chain of Planned Parenthood,” Live Action President Lila Rose said at an online forum this week titled “Planned Parenthood’s Trans Agenda Exposed.”
Last week, Live Action released an undercover investigation suggesting that obtaining cross-sex hormones at Planned Parenthood clinics in some states is relatively easy, even for 16-year-olds.
In Minnesota, a Live Action investigator who said she was 16 was told by a Planned Parenthood operator that she could meet with a doctor to obtain a testosterone prescription via telehealth, as shown in recorded telephone conversations.
“So I can get hormones the same day?” she asked the operator, who replied, “If not the same day, then more than likely the very next day.”
Minnesota and New York operators told her no proof of therapy was needed. She did need parental permission, although a New York operator said she might not have to have her mother in the room for the entire visit.
“Does she have to be in there the whole time?” asked the investigator.
The operator replied: “At some point in the appointment, maybe she doesn’t have to be.”
The investigator also said her decision to switch genders was recent. She told a Minnesota operator, “I just decided last week, and I wanted to get in as soon as possible.”
The operator said she should be able to schedule an appointment in the following week.
“They’re capitalizing on the confusion and identity crises happening in my generation. It’s criminal.” @ChoooCole https://t.co/dl6Gjf2TIO
— Live Action (@LiveAction) May 14, 2025
The investigation raised questions about whether Planned Parenthood is following the World Professional Association for Transgender Health standards, which recommend medical intervention for adolescents only after mental health concerns are addressed.
The standards also say health care providers should ensure that the “gender diversity/incongruence is marked and sustained over time.”
Planned Parenthood North Central States is up front about not requiring a psychiatric evaluation. It says the affiliate “uses an informed consent model, which means we do not require a note from a mental health therapist to receive hormone therapy.”
“We believe when our patients are fully informed, they can make the best decision for themselves and their bodies,” the affiliate states on its website.
The Washington Times has reached out to Planned Parenthood for comment.
The Planned Parenthood annual report for 2023-2024, released Monday, showed the nonprofit organization received a record $792.2 million in government reimbursements and grants. However, it wasn’t clear how much public funding, if any, went to gender transition drugs.
The report said 402,230 abortions were performed that year, a record, but “gender-affirming care” was lumped into the “other procedures” category along with “pediatric care” and the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program.
The total number of “other procedures” was 77,852 out of 9.45 million total procedures, including STD testing and treatment, contraceptive services, cancer screenings and abortions.
In a 2024 report, however, The Free Press said Planned Parenthood had become “the country’s leading provider of gender transition hormones for young adults.” It cited insurance data showing that at least 40,000 adults sought gender transition services at affiliates in 2023. About 40% were 18- to 22-year-olds.
Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson warned that pulling the organization’s Medicaid eligibility would have detrimental health consequences.
“Here is what ‘defunding’ Planned Parenthood and gutting Medicaid will mean: cancers will go undetected; it will be harder than ever to get birth control; the nation’s STI crisis will worsen; Planned Parenthood health centers will close, making it significantly harder to get abortion care; and people across the country will suffer — all so the supremely wealthy can become even richer,” she said in a Sunday statement.
What worries pro-life advocates are reports that some House Republicans are privately balking at defunding Planned Parenthood over concerns about the political blowback.
Virginia state Delegate Nick Freitas said the timing may never be better than now, given that Republicans control the White House, Senate and House.
“If we can’t do it right now, what is it going to take?” he asked. “Because it’s all right there.”
