Thank you for your understanding. What is happening in Pittsburgh is very unfortunate.

I have been seeing an increase in social media posts about how Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania (PPWP) is not allowing 18 year old adults to receive gender affirming care.

I receive care at one of the affected clinics and planned parenthood has done nothing to communicate changes of policy / temporary closures to its patients. It breaks my heart.

The PPWP staff union made an official statement on this that can be viewed on their Instagram:

To our community members,

As of 4:30 today, December 30, 2025, Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania sent a memo to its staff stating it will temporarily suspend gender-affirming care for our patients who are 18 years old. The organization states this will be a two-week pause, and that it was advised by their legal counsel. This is regarding the memo released by the Department of Health and Human Services dating to December 18 that states that offices providing gender affirming care to minors will be removed from the Medicaid and Medicare programs.

We, UE Local 696, find this decision to be not only abhorrent, but completely unnecessary. Per the HHS memo, only offices that provide care to those under the age of 18 would be affected by the stated funding cuts. PPWP only provides gender affirming hormone therapy to those 18 and older, and would be unaffected by this policy. PPWP also already lost Medicaid funding due to the one-year pause on Medicaid reimbursements passed as part of the "Big Beautiful Bill" on July 4. Likewise, PPWP admin have time and time again communicated to their staff that no services would be cut or paused in the foreseeable or any patients, including and explicitly mentioned gender affirming care for all eligible patients - including those who are 18 years of age.

PPWP presents itself as an organization that cares for all who need the care it can provide. affiliate is one of the scant few organizations that kept hormone therapy available for 18-year-olds after so many providers stopped serving them earlier this year, and is the only place for this patient group to get the care they need in Western PA after all other clinics dropped them. These patients rely on our services for care that is life-changing and, in many cases, life-saving. And with one email, sent after most staff had left for the day or were on vacation, PPWP has put that care in jeopardy for no good reason.

We, UE 696, demand that PPWP reinstate care for the affected patients immediately, and to make good on the promises made to staff to not cut care to certain groups of patients. And to actually abide by their motto of "Care, no Matter What," instead of simply using it as a slogan for fundraising.

Signed,

UE Local 696