Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands (PPGNHI) has announced expanded health services to include gender affirming hormone care for transgender patients across the organization’s 27 health centers. The new service began on June 20, 2018.

“Planned Parenthood believes that reproductive rights are deeply connected to LGBTQ rights. We know transgender people, like everyone else, have a fundamental need for quality health care, and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” said Jack Slowriver, administrative director of gender affirming hormone care at PPGNHI. “Transgender people face additional, unique challenges in accessing care and we are committed to expanding our services to ensure that our patients receive the welcoming, high-quality care they need, no matter what.”

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals often face challenges and barriers to accessing needed health services and, as a result, can more often experience worse health outcomes.

Health care environments can be unwelcoming to transgender and gender-nonconforming patients, from filling out forms, to the language used in the waiting room, to insurance coverage, to staff understanding of transgender identities. The intimate nature of sexual and reproductive health care, screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STI), cancer screenings and birth control can also lead to increased anxiety for those seeking care.

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“Expanding health care services to include services for transgender people is critical to our mission, and a commitment from this organization that we won’t rest until all people are able to receive nonjudgmental, high-quality care,” said Chris Charbonneau, CEO of PPGNHI. “I am proud to see this organization provide quality, compassionate care to all people along the spectrum of gender identity and expression.”

Planned Parenthood health services are open to people of all gender identities and sexual orientations. Whether you’re transgender or cisgender, you can visit a Planned Parenthood health center for preventive care, STI testing and treatment, PrEP, birth control, cancer screenings and referrals. Currently, Planned Parenthood health centers offer gender affirming hormone care in 21 states.