Planned Parenthood Now Provides Transgender Hormone Therapy in New York City

Just a week after the Trump administration rescinded an Obama-era rule protecting transgender students’ use of bathrooms in public schools, Planned Parenthood of New York City announced it would now be offering hormone therapy to transgender and gender nonconforming patients.

New York City, which was home to the nation’s first family planning clinic in 1916, will now join the 32 Planned Parenthood centers in a total of 10 states that extend testosterone and estrogen therapy. According to Slate, these numbers are quickly growing.

The Planned Parenthood website says it uses an informed consent model, a process in which the patient is given enough knowledge about a procedure and its effects to make an educated decision about treatment. The organization’s information page also states that patients can receive some hormones on site, in addition to getting a prescription filled at a pharmacy.

The decision to offer hormone treatments comes at a contentious time for Planned Parenthood, especially in the state of New York. President Trump has said as recently as this week that he wants to defund the organization if it continues to offer abortions.

Meanwhile, New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, released a statement the day after the inauguration affirming his commitment to securing reproductive rights statewide.

While the future remains unclear, Planned Parenthood centers in all five New York boroughs will continue to offer hormone therapy to its patients, with the group’s information page, promising to provide “high-quality sexual and reproductive health care to everyone who walks through our doors, regardless of their age, immigration status, or ability to pay. Care. No matter what.”

Photo: Charlotte Cooper, CC-BY

Dillon Thompson is University of Georgia student and freelance writer with a love for travel and an addiction to coffee and hip-hop music.