Parade marchers carrying Pride flags walk across the Andy Warhol Bridge toward Allegheny Commons to continue the Pittsburgh Pride Revolution celebration on June 3, 2023. (Photo by Alexis Wary/PublicSource)
A partnership between Allegheny Reproductive Health Center and Mate Fertility aims to make fertility care — including for transgender individuals — more affordable and accessible.
by Erin Yudt, PublicSource
A trans-inclusive fertility clinic is expected to open in Pittsburgh next year, offering sperm and egg donations, surrogacy services, in vitro fertilization, hormone therapy and more, aiming to address shortcomings in healthcare in Pittsburgh for the trans community.
The clinic will be a partnership between Allegheny Reproductive Health Center [ARHC] and Mate Fertility, an organization dedicated to making the parenthood process affordable, accessible and comfortable. It will be run by Dr. Sheila Ramgopal and Dr. Amy Collins, two Pittsburgh physicians.
According to the National Library of Medicine, almost 500,000 transgender people experience health care disparities in the United States.
Dena Stanley, executive director of TransYOUniting PGH, a mutual aid non-profit providing resources to Pittsburgh’s trans community, said the coming clinic will be helpful for the region’s transgender and LGBTQ+ community.
“Having a family is still so difficult for us [the trans community],” Stanley said. “Couples are still turned away from adoption or healthcare because they are queer. … This clinic will give a safe option in an affirming place where they are not scared or discriminated against simply because of who they are.”
Dade Lemanski, 32, of Wilkinsburg, said another reproductive clinic in the area isn’t among the trans community’s most pressing needs. Lemanski moved to Pittsburgh because of its more affordable gender-affirming care through Medicaid and UPMC, but said that the healthcare providers here that brand themselves as all-inclusive are truly not.
“Reproduction is an important part of life, but it’s only one part of life,” Lemanski said. “I think we need to focus on current care and truly make it all-inclusive first.”
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