In August 2023, my home state of Missouri ‘s  law banning gender-affirming medical care for minors  took effect after a legal challenge from civil right advocates. Missouri joined 22 other states with restrictions on “gender-affirming care”. Most, if not all, of these states have exemptions for a “medically verifiable disorder of sex development”.

Now a shocking October 4, 2023 article in the Washington Free Beacon titled “Planned Parenthood is Helping Teenagers Transition After a 30 Minute Consult. Parents and Doctors are Sounding the Alarm” says that “The abortion provider is wading into transgender care, doling out prescriptions for estrogen and testosterone, including to special needs kids.”

The article writes about a teenager diagnosed with autism whose parents were shocked “when, in December 2022, at 17 years old, he announced he was a transgender woman” after his best friend with autism announced he was a transgender woman.

“The parents were “Concerned that this was another phase, but open to the possibility that it wasn’t, Fred’s parents tried to enroll their son, whom they were now calling by a female name at home, in the Gender and Autism Program at Children’s National Hospital, the only gender clinic in the country specializing in autistic youth. Fred was determined to take hormones, they told the clinic, which is known for its lengthy assessments. Before he did, they wanted to be sure his dysphoria wasn’t transient or peer-driven.” There was a waiting list of a year.”

But according to the article “while his parents were out of town and after he had come of age, Fred went to Planned Parenthood, which prescribes hormones to any legal adult without a letter from a therapist or a formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria. The only requirement is a brief consultation, usually with a nurse practitioner, about the drugs’ effects, which range from mood swings and male pattern baldness to permanent infertility.” (Emphasis added)

After a nurse practitioner saw him for a “little over 30 minutes” , the nurse practitioner “prescribed their special-needs son a powerful drug without their knowledge or consent.”

The mother, a New Jersey pediatrician,  told the Beacon that “It’s criminal what Planned Parenthoods all over the country are doing,” “And most people have no idea this is happening.”

The article also quotes the liberal psychologist who helped bring pediatric gender medicine to the US:

“I have always been a very strong supporter of Planned Parenthood and am pro-choice,” said Laura Edwards-Leeper, who co-founded the nation’s first pediatric gender clinic, at Boston Children’s Hospital, in 2007. “But they have taken on something that they are not equipped to handle.” The lack of gatekeeping is so bad, she added, that some of her patients received hormones from Planned Parenthood before coming to her for an assessment.

Others, like Erica Anderson, a former president of the US Professional Association for Transgender Health, say patients they’ve sought to delay from transitioning have simply turned to Planned Parenthood. “I’ve had patients desperate to get hormones where I’ve been the voice of caution,” said Anderson, who is transgender herself. “In some cases, they say, ‘I’ll just go to Planned Parenthood when I’m 18.’ Usually I can dissuade them but sometimes I can’t.”

CONCLUSION

As the article points out:

“Planned Parenthood is one of the largest providers of cross-sex hormones in the United States, and one of the fastest growing. Affiliates in the greater Portland area saw a nearly 400 percent increase in “gender-affirming care visits” between 2021 and 2022, according to their annual reports, while those in Ohio saw a 544 percent increase over the same period. Hormones now appear to be in higher demand than abortion at some branches: A Planned Parenthood in Knoxville, Tenn., told NPR that nearly a fifth of its patients sought hormone therapy in 2021, whereas abortion makes up just 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services nationally. (Emphasis added)

This growth has come as pediatric gender clinics, which used to wait months before prescribing hormones, are becoming more laissez faire themselves. Some now prescribe hormones on the first visit, a Reuters investigation found last year, while others say ballooning caseloads have made it harder to conduct the kind of in-depth assessments once standard in the field.”

Now, even the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), whose standards of care are among the most aggressive and controversial in the field, says “it is critical to differentiate gender incongruence” from autistic “obsessions” and “rigid thinking.” Though the group does recommend an informed consent standard for people over 18, it also states that its guidelines for minors—which call for “comprehensive” evaluations by experts on autism and other disorders—are “often relevant” to young adults. (Emphasis added

Fred’s parents have now filed a  complaint  with New Jersey’s nursing and medical boards.