A 20-year-old woman has accused Planned Parenthood of rushing her into a gender transition when she was 18, leaving her with lifelong side effects.
Cristina Hineman has filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest single provider of abortion, contraception, reproductive care, and sex education.
The organization has in recent years also become a leading provider of gender transition hormones for young adults, offering the service at more than 400 locations. At least 40,000 patients have gone to Planned Parenthood for hormone treatment this year.
Hineman claims she was given a prescription for testosterone following a 30-minute consultation with a nurse practitioner after she was ‘brainwashed’ by YouTubers, The Free Press reported.
She said she was left with permanent effects from the testosterone, including hair on the backs of her hands and face. Her clitoris has become permanently enlarged and constantly feels ‘uncomfortable.’
Meanwhile, Hineman says her sexual response has been dulled, and that a double mastectomy left her chest scarred and ‘alternately numb and raw.’
Hineman says she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Hudson, New York, in November 2021 as soon as she turned 18. She was desperate to obtain testosterone after being faced with her parent’s skepticism about her gender dysphoria.
The teenager was reportedly instructed to fill out a consent form for ‘masculinizing hormone therapy.’
According to medical records, a nurse practitioner noted that Hineman had ‘consulted with a mental health provider.’ The nurse and Hineman then discussed ‘expected changes,’ such as growing a beard and body hair and a deepening voice.
The two also reportedly discussed that ‘changes to fertility may be permanent or reversible.’
After the brief discussion, the nurse drew Hineman’s blood and gave her a prescription for testosterone gel.
Before the consultation, Hineman says she had been suffering from various mental health issues including self-harm, depression and anxiety. She also has autism.
Hineman told The Free Press that the Covid-19 pandemic and isolation exacerbated her issues – and that YouTubers she followed at the time ‘convinced her that gender was the problem.’
A year into her treatment, after having undergone surgery to remove her breasts, Hineman regretted her decision, no longer thinking her gender was the root of her issues.
She told the publication: ‘I was brainwashed… A lot of people say that adults should be able to do whatever they want.
‘But if you have mental illness that’s clouding your view, or you’re so misinformed about what gender dysphoria even means, then you cannot consent to such invasive treatments.’
Hineman now considers herself a detransitioner, the term for those who have come to regret their transition and have returned to their gender at birth.
She is seeking unspecified damages. Her lawsuit against Planned Parenthood, filed in April, is the first of its kind filed against the organization.
Hineman joins over a dozen young people who have filed legal claims alleging medical malpractice against institutions such as Kaiser Permanente and individual doctors.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Planned Parenthood for comment.
