Decision-Making in Risky Spaces

Our primary goal is to serve patients. Patients are at the center of every single thing we do. We are not going to be able to fulfill our goal if we get shut down. So even if there are risks that individuals on the team may be comfortable taking, we have to keep that bigger picture in mind. Um, there was recently a really tough decision that we had to make, um, to relocate some members of our team. For context on this, and I will say this is one of the few bright spots in the abortion regulatory space right now that's not getting a lot of press coverage, interestingly enough, so I like telling people about it. There's these frameworks emerging called shield laws that basically say, we as a progressive state will not participate with cross-state lawsuits, so extradition subpoenas from other hostile states related to reproductive health care. Obviously, this is really critical at a time like now where the consequences can be extremely high for providing medical care. So we made the decision to require all of our team members to move to these states with shield laws to protect the patients themselves and the business as a whole. There was pushback because a lot of people on the team come from a background of activism and they were comfortable getting arrested. But ultimately, it's not about the individual's risk tolerance. It's about what we have to do as a business to continue. Striving towards our mission. And so we did have to make that tough call. Oh, interesting. Yeah, great example.

I think Kiki hit the nail on the head. You have these individual decisions, again, why they can be— we want people to feel empowered, but like we're talking about care for thousands of individuals here, you know, and we always have to keep that in mind. And we haven't faced, I guess, like a particular scenario yet to be put in a situation of, you know, do you do this or that? I mean, we made decisions early on trying to navigate the laws. Like, for example, you know, there's states where we just can't prescribe testosterone virtually, right? And so that is, I guess, the decision that we did have to make early and say, like, yeah, we could do this and we could wait for that slap on the wrist, which might turn into something, you know, much more. But we didn't. And so, like, there's states where we prescribe, you know, more kind of estrogen-only or estrogen-supported medications and then find other ways to support folks, whether through mental health support, virtual peer support groups, and that kind of thing. So that was something we did have to do early on. And now that I think about it, we did have to kind of hem and haw about that because we were worried. Of course, we want people to get care, worried about what is that going to look like from an image or reputation thing within the trans community. And I think, I mean, folks have been, of course, very understanding. But that is something that, you know, we still don't do in some states. And there's, with the PHE, you know, in effect, there's other exemptions that we're able to work under. And there's a lot of unknowns that are, you know, with if and when that PHE expires and what that's going to look like. So, but yeah, I think we always have to think about how are we, you know, doing the most good for the most people. And then I've seen, yeah, like hospital systems have to make incredibly hard decisions, especially when it comes to trans youth care, you know, and hospital systems basically saying that they're not going to do that care or else they'll be shut down, right? Because of these just incredibly punitive laws that are coming from the states. So I mean, it's on our minds all the time, but I guess that would be like a specific example of something that we did have to do early on.