EXCLUSIVE — Six Los Angeles-area school districts are receiving sexual health services from Planned Parenthood to the tune of $1.4 million, according to documents from the Los Angeles County Public Health Department. 

Documents uncovered by Parents Defending Education, a parents’ rights watchdog group, reveal that the Public Health Department, with the approval of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, engaged Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, or PPLA, to provide “sexual health services including education and counseling” to several high schools in area school districts.

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In 2024, LA County approved a “sole source contract with Planned Parenthood Los Angeles” to support student well-being centers in school districts throughout the county. The contract approved $1.4 million for PPLA’s services through the end of June 2025 using a federal block grant intended for substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery services. 

The original contract for the program started in 2019 and is renewable until 2029, according to the county’s document.

A spokesperson for the county Department of Public Health told the Washington Examiner the contract provides for PPLA to offer “training and technical assistance to Public Health youth educators within the [student well-being centers] to ensure youth educators have the skills and knowledge to capably support adolescents.”

According to the health department spokesperson, PPLA also manages a dedicated call center for students in the county that supplies additional support and referrals for substance abuse prevention, which has received more than 22,000 calls since the start of the program in 2019.

Four school districts — Inglewood Unified, Rowland Unified, Azusa Unified, and Bassett Unified — expressly list several services that PPLA is supposed to provide in the student health centers as part of the contract. 

The sexual health services include “education and counseling, limited Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) testing and treatment, and over the counter contraceptives.” 

Lynwood Unified School District, which also accepts PPLA services from the county, also allows for “prescription and/or dispensing of pharmaceutical related to reproductive health, including contraceptives and antibiotics” as well as “referrals for additional medical or other health care services.” 

Centinela Valley Union High School District, in addition to STI testing and other counseling services, also allows for referrals to outside medical services. Documents also indicate that Centinela purchased nearly $7,000 of educational material from PPLA to be used for biology classes. 

The school districts involved in the program did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.

None of the school district contracts, nor the agreement between PPLA and LA County, reference abortion services or the provision of abortion medication, including mifepristone and misoprostol. 

Erika Sanzi, director of outreach at Parents Defending Education, said in a statement that Planned Parenthood “has no business being anywhere near a public school.” 

As a national organization, Planned Parenthood has received condemnation from social conservatives and anti-abortion advocates not only for being the top abortion provider in the U.S. but also for its growing role in gender transition medicine, including for minors. 

Planned Parenthood offers in-depth educational material on gender identity, including transgender and nonbinary identities, as well as medical services, including cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and surgical referrals. 

PPLA includes what it calls “gender affirming care” in its online list of services provided in-clinic. At the time of publication, PPLA did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for more details about the services it assists with in LA area schools. 

The documents outlining the partnership between PPLA and the various schools in LA County do not mention gender identity or transgender medical services, but instead use the general term “sexual health.”

Opponents of gender transition medicine for minors highlight that “sexual health” can be broadly construed to include cross-sex hormone therapies, such as puberty blockers.

“Most people have no idea that Planned Parenthood has jumped on the gender bandwagon and is now the second largest provider of gender hormone therapies, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors,” Sanzi said. 

According to the medical advocacy group Do No Harm, which advocates against gender transition medicine for minors, California is among the states with the highest amount of medical gender procedures for minors. 

Citing insurance claims, Do No Harm identified over 2,000 minors in California in 2024 that have undergone either hormonal therapies or surgical procedures to treat gender dysphoria.