But recently, Planned Parenthood has quietly begun expanding into a new arena: hormone therapy for individuals with gender dysphoria, a service the group calls "gender affirming care."

Hormone therapy has become popular as a means of artificially suppressing the sex characteristics of those who feel misaligned with their biological sex. Biological men who identify as women take estrogen and women who identify as men take testosterone, hormones that mask or even permanently alter unwanted male or female sex characteristics — including, in many cases, their fertility.

Judging from its own documents, Planned Parenthood's provision of hormone therapy has increased exponentially since the group first mentioned the word "transgender" in its 2014 annual report. That year, Planned Parenthood reported just 26 centers in ten states offering these services.

Planned Parenthood's most recent report, from 2019, recorded more than 200 centers in 31 states that "provide hormone therapy for transgender patients." According to the group's website, that number is even larger now: close to 300 centers across 38 states.