When management at Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania threatened to cut gender-affirming healthcare for 18-year-old patients, UE Local 696 members who work there fought back. At the recent Eastern Region Council Meeting, Local 696 Vice President Nina Mulroy explained how they won continuation of this care.

At the end of the year, at 4:30pm on a Friday before the New Year’s holiday, the members received an email from their bosses explaining that gender-affirming healthcare for 18-year-old patients would be suspended. The decision came after a December 18 memo from the Department of Health and Human Services which effectively prohibits healthcare providers who receive federal funds from providing gender-affirming care to minors. The local membership immediately leapt into action to ensure their 18-year-old patients, who did not fall under the new federal policy, would still receive the healthcare they needed. Members sent a letter back to management on the same day demanding that healthcare to trans young adults be reinstated. The statement was also posted to social media expressing the members’ outrage — including anger about the fact that patients were not given notice.

At the next virtual all-staff meeting, members changed their profile pictures to a graphic that read “Protect Trans Care. No Matter What” with their union logo below. The phrase was a twist on the Planned Parenthood motto “Care, no matter what.” About 40 members were on the call and each of them turned off their cameras to show a united front – they would not tolerate the continued suspension of trans healthcare.

Mulroy, in an interview with UE NEWS at the recent council meeting said, “Union members reached out to our CEO at the time stating how this was going to be super detrimental to our community and how our staff who are also trans felt really abandoned by this decision.” Mulroy said the collective action by the members was successful in pressuring management to reinstate trans healthcare for their patients.

You can watch the full interview with Mulroy on our Instagram [1] or Tiktok [2].