Fox News is arguing that Planned Parenthood’s newest venture is helping “transgender patients with sex changes,” which the FoxNews.com article says will help fill budget gaps caused by the health care provider no longer accepting reimbursements for fetal tissue donations. But Planned Parenthood has offered trans-inclusive health care services, according to well-established guidelines, well before the organization discontinued fetal tissue reimbursement.  

Planned Parenthood has “found a new niche that could prove nearly as controversial as providing abortions” -- helping transgender people through the “sex-change process,” says a May 5 FoxNews.com article. The article also claims that since Planned Parenthood has stopped “selling baby body parts for money,” the “gender reassignment process may enable the organization to make up the lost cash."  The false allegations of fetal tissue profiteering that Fox News is referring to have been repeatedly debunked.

But Planned Parenthood offering medical care to transgender people is not “new.” Standards of care for providing transition-related services have been on the books for almost 50 years and are supported by major medical associations, such as the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association. Trans people use Planned Parenthood as a means to access a diverse range of culturally competent medical services, such as reproductive health care, STD screenings, pap smears, cancer screenings, and even sometimes hormone treatments. Planned Parenthood provides one aspect of many that go along with transition-related care.

The author is correct about one thing -- both hormone therapy services and facilitation of fetal tissue donation account for a negligible amount of Planned Parenthood’s resources each year. Currently, less than 1 percent of the organization’s health centers even facilitate donations for fetal tissue research. Hormone therapy services also account for less than 1 percent of the 9.5 million services that are performed each year, according to the latest annual report.

The article relies solely on the opinion of hate group spokesperson Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, who is not a medical professional. Sprigg predicts severe backlash from patients experiencing transition regret, which -- much like so-called “post-abortion syndrome” -- is a conservative myth debunked by scientific evidence. More from the Fox article:

But Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council, told FoxNews.com the most severe backlash may not come from Americans who find the practice “bizarre,” but rather down the road “from clients who recognize this was not in their best interest.”

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“This illustrates how Planned Parenthood, rather than providing specific services, is kind of the central clearinghouse for the sexual revolution in all respects. And that’s come to include having sex without the consequence of pregnancy and also the freedom to change one’s sex if you choose.”