Planned Parenthood using 'loophole' to get minors gender transitions without parents' OK: watchdog
FIRST ON FOX: The conservative watchdog group American Principles Project is sounding an alarm over what the group is describing as a "massive loophole" being utilized by Planned Parenthood to give transgender hormone therapy to minors.
In a wide-ranging report chronicling how Planned Parenthood is propping up the trans agenda, the American Principles Project accused the group and its affiliates across the country of manipulating the definition of contraception in order to provide transgender hormone therapy to minors without parental consent.
"Using contraception as a 'gender-affirming' treatment is a massive loophole," the report stated. "Most states allow minors to consent to these contraceptives on their own, and many states allow minors to do so without even notifying parents."
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Some blue states, like Washington, Oregon and Minnesota, have laws permitting minors to obtain puberty blockers, or cross-sex hormones, for the purpose of transitioning genders, without parental consent. However, most states do require parental consent in order for minors to access these drugs, while others take an even stricter approach of banning the medications for minors outright, regardless of whether their parents approve or not.
The American Principles Project points to a "Gender Affirming Care Patient Guide" from Planned Parenthood's Mar Monte chapter, the national organization's largest affiliate serving parts of central California and northern Nevada.
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In both states, parental consent is required for minors to access any type of medical intervention aimed at aiding a minor's gender transition, but it does permit minors to obtain various forms of contraception, such as birth control, without it.
"People 15 and younger who have periods can come to us for birth control options to stop periods," the patient guide on "gender-affirming care" states. It then notes in the following sentence: "Parent/guardian consent is not required to get birth control."
A 2022 case study from Seattle Children's Hospital, which has come under scrutiny for providing transgender medical care to minors, highlights the case of a 14-year-old biological female who was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and was "very distressed by bleeding cycles" that the patient began experiencing at age 12.
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Despite the minor patient's gender dysphoria, the child did not want to fully transition into a male. Rather, according to the case study, the female patient was identified as "non-binary" and expressed that she did not want to be subject to the effects of testosterone, such as a deeper voice and facial hair. As a result, the child was given hormonal-based birth control to stop her periods, which the case study said resulted in better mental health for the patient and opened them up to pursuing top surgery in the future.
In addition to blocking periods, certain types of birth control can also suppress testosterone production, according to the Endocrine Society. This makes contraception a viable route for gender-dysphoric biological females who may not want to experience the impacts of testosterone but want to blunt their female-sex maturation, as described in the above case study. It's also a viable mechanism for biological males who want to block their body's natural testosterone production, according to the Endocrine Society.
"While patients under 18 cannot receive hormone therapy, they may have a consultation with a provider to understand treatment options and to receive medications to stop their periods (if desired)," Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest states on its "Gender Affirming Care" web page. The explanation also appears on a FAQ page under the website's "About Us" section.
"The fact that Planned Parenthood is actively finding and exploiting legal loopholes to begin transitioning minors behind their parent's backs is downright disgusting," Terry Schilling, President of the American Principles Project told Fox News Digital. "There is nothing this organization will not do to make a quick buck at the expense of our children and families."
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According to the American Principles Project's report, around 80 percent of Planned Parenthood clinics offer some form of "gender-affirming care," which the group says has outpaced abortion services.
The report goes into other extensive details about how Planned Parenthood has prioritized sex-change procedures for young people, which Schilling remarked "isn't healthcare" but rather "an ideological crusade that undermines families and exploits vulnerable youth."
"Planned Parenthood's recent shift to becoming a leading provider of so-called 'gender-affirming care' exposes their radical agenda to reshape society, starting with our unborn children and now targeting the next generation with dangerous, life-altering medical procedures," Schilling said.
"Our report reveals that Planned Parenthood now prioritizes irreversible transgender treatments—often without parental consent—OVER their other services, with an estimated 120,000 transgender medical visits annually and growing," he continued. Their materials, from activity books promoting gender ideology to chatbots targeting kids as young as 13, are designed to sexualize and indoctrinate the next generation."
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In a statement to Fox News Digital, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest's President and CEO, Jenny Black, insisted that its health centers "operate under the highest medical standards," and said that any accusation it is violating state law "is completely false."
"We strongly denounce the dangerous spread of disinformation about life-saving gender-affirming healthcare that is fueled by rampant transphobia," Black said. "We will continue to provide safe and legal health care to those who rely on us for access to quality and compassionate care."
Planned Parenthood's Mar Monte chapter did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.Original article source: Planned Parenthood using 'loophole' to get minors gender transitions without parents' OK: watchdog
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But even with Trump back in the White House, the circumstances will be different this time, presenting new challenges for both parties. … With all that's changed, how likely is it that the national environment will be as blue as it was in 2018? … An energized base and a Republican electorate that is structurally less likely to turn out are two key advantages Democrats hold heading into the 2026 election cycle. We saw a preview of this dynamic in the 2022 midterms, when President Joe Biden's low approval ratings translated into only relatively modest gains for Republicans. But not all news is rosy for Democrats. In the upcoming 2026 cycle, there will be fewer districts in play than in their previous midterm as the out-party. In 2016, 23 Republicans won seats carried by Hillary Clinton and 12 Democrats won seats carried by Trump — a total of 35 crossover districts going into 2018. 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These men have deeper concerns, including that they don't think Democrats are prioritizing their interests.' Policing the language police: The Washington Post: 'Maybe it's using the word 'oligarchs' instead of rich people. Or referring to 'people experiencing food insecurity' rather than Americans going hungry. Or 'equity' in place of 'equality,' or 'justice-involved populations' instead of prisoners. … The latest debate is, in part, also a proxy for the bigger battle over what the Democrats' identity should be in the aftermath of November's devastating losses — especially as the party searches for ways to reverse its overwhelming rejection by rural and White working-class voters. … 'Some words are just too Ivy League-tested terms,' said Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona). 'I'm going to piss some people off by saying this, but 'social equity' — why do we say that? Why don't we say, 'We want you to have an even chance'?' … Other Democrats and progressives strongly disagree, saying the party's problems can hardly be traced to a few terms that, they say, are used by activists far more than by actual Democratic politicians.' Nate Silver: Busting the turnout myth for Democrats: Silver Bulletin: 'Presidential campaigns — and particularly Democratic campaigns — tend to see turnout as their lodestar. … But a new, highly detailed analysis of the 2024 vote from Catalist, an analytics and voter database firm, suggests that turnout was probably a relatively modest part of the problem for Harris last year. … [Catalist analysis] finds that Harris and Tim Walz performed poorly among the exact sort of infrequent voters that Democrats once counted on for higher turnout. … About 56 percent of dropoff voters — people who voted in 2020 but not in 2024 — had voted for Biden in 2020, excluding third-party voters. … That hurt Harris, certainly. But two other shifts also harmed Democrats. First, unusually, a majority of new voters (people who didn't vote in 2020) voted for Trump. Since many new voters are young voters, this reflected a substantial tepidness toward Democrats among the younger ranks of Gen Z. … What's more, Harris also (slightly) lost to Trump among repeat voters, a majority of whom had voted for Biden in 2020.' 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Rearview mirror stuff.' — White House Budget Director Russell Vought said in response to the Government Accountability Office's ruling against the Department of Transportation's pause on congressional funds for electric vehicles. MAILBAG 'It's nice to be informed on actual percentages as related to federal spending. Wish we could get people to drown out all the white noise. A pipe dream at best.' — Craig Grzech, Livonia, Mich. Mr. Grzech, Pipe dreams are better than no dreams at all! One of the principal reasons behind our mounting fiscal peril is that it's hard to generate urgency for solving a problem that seems far off in the future. But as the moment of truth arrives, what was once seen as too distant suddenly becomes too overwhelming. We went from 'we'll deal with it later' to 'it's too big to deal with at all.' I've long thought that the federal debt is for conservatives as climate change is for progressives. The forecast is apocalyptic, but the disaster is always just over the horizon for the people in power at the moment. The proposed remedies are painful, and requiring long-term implementation as they must, may not even survive the next election. Rational self-interest tells politicians that the smart move is to keep up the game of hot potato in hopes that they won't be the one who gets burned when the time is up. But the consequences are increasing and there's a growing understanding in Washington that the 25-year vacation from fiscal reality is coming to a close. For all of its chaos and melodrama, the DOGE effort spoke to that understanding. It's not surprising that the first efforts at taming the budget beast would be fanciful and promise painless results. Washington loves a 'win-win' even when the real choices are between 'lose a little' and 'lose a lot.' All best, c You should email us! Write to WHOLEHOGPOLITICS@ with your tips, kudos, criticisms, insights, rediscovered words, wonderful names, recipes, and, always, good jokes. Please include your real name — at least first and last — and hometown. Make sure to let us know in the email if you want to keep your submission private. My colleagues and I will look for your emails and then share the most interesting ones and my responses here. Clickety clack! FOR DESSERT Perils of globalization BBC: 'A man in Norway woke up to find a huge container ship had run aground and crashed into his front garden. The 443ft-ship missed Johan Helberg's house by metres. … Mr. Helberg was only alerted to the commotion by his panicked neighbour who had watched the ship as it headed straight for shore. … 'The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don't like to open,' Mr. Helberg told television channel TV2. 'I went to the window and was quite astonished to see a big ship. … It's a very bulky new neighbour but it will soon go away,' Mr. Helberg added. … According to reports, the ship had previously run aground in 2023 but got free under its own power.' OFF THE MENU Whole Hog Politics is taking a brief recess next week but will return with everything but the squeal on June 13. Please enjoy the start of your summer. See you soon! Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for The Hill and NewsNation, the host of 'The Hill Sunday' on NewsNation and The CW, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of books on politics and the media. Aliza Jane Fassett contributed to this report.
