A pregnant father
While it's not quite the situation some have speculated will one day come about, a transgender man in Oregon says he's pregnant. Writing in the April issue of The Advocate, Thomas Beattie says the reception to his pregnancy has been awkward and chilly:
Our situation sparks legal, political, and social unknowns. We have only begun experiencing opposition from people who are upset by our situation. Doctors have discriminated against us, turning us away due to their religious beliefs. Health care professionals have refused to call me by a male pronoun or recognize Nancy as my wife. Receptionists have laughed at us. Friends and family have been unsupportive; most of Nancy’s family doesn’t even know I’m transgender.
This whole process, from trying to get pregnant to being pregnant, has been a challenge for us. The first doctor we approached was a reproductive endocrinologist. He was shocked by our situation and told me to shave my facial hair. After a $300 consultation, he reluctantly performed my initial checkups. He then required us to see the clinic’s psychologist to see if we were fit to bring a child into this world and consulted with the ethics board of his hospital. A few months and a couple thousand dollars later, he told us that he would no longer treat us, saying he and his staff felt uncomfortable working with “someone like me.”
In total, nine different doctors have been involved. This is why it took over one year to get access to a cryogenic sperm bank to purchase anonymous donor vials, and why Nancy and I eventually resorted to home insemination.
-Greg Dahlmann
(via)
Earlier on bioethics.net:
+ Podcast: Talking about male pregnancy
contribute a comment
Your contributions to the conversation are very much appreciated. We do have a few simple guidelines, though. Be civil. Stay on topic. We reserve the right to remove comments that violate the aforementioned guidelines. One more thing: comments are moderated, so it may take a little while for your comment to be posted. Thanks.
comments
How come he didnt just get his wife prgnant, can't she have children? this is just freakin unreal...and crazy like, but hey, whatever floats ur boat....
- by Anna on Mar 30, 2008 at 11:35 PM | link
Anna, I believe that his partner had a hysterectomy in the past due to health reasons or was otherwise unable to gestate a pregnancy.
Regarding the story itself, it is biomedically unremarkable since the pregnant parent had a biologically female body with the "plumbing" intact. However, it does make for an interesting linguistic, social, and legal exercise; the disrespect and scorn with which they were treated is truly disappointing.
I do wish that the mainstream media had not overindulged in sensationalism over this story the way it did. They played on the sharp gender divisions in society where no man would want to be pregnant unless he was a freak.
- by SabrinaW on Apr 3, 2008 at 4:32 PM | link
Just wondering how exactly you would home inseminate when you have external male organs? Do they actually connect to the uterus? I had a class on human sexuality and the chapter on transgender transformation didn't explain what they did with the old parts. If he has a working uterus, does he also have a monthy cycle? How does that work??
- by Kelly on Apr 4, 2008 at 3:28 PM | link
Are you asking in general, or in this case? Because this person (like most F-to-M transsexuals) did not obtain external male organs because the surgery is very expensive and doesn't really produce a satisfactory result. So it's rarely an issue because so few transsexuals get the surgery, but I guess it could be done by a catheter if you were really careful? Spotted hyenas manage it somehow...
I think that the monthly cycle probably ceases with the hormone regimen; I believe that in descriptions of how it happened, he stopped taking the hormones to let his body "reset".
- by SabrinaW on Apr 5, 2008 at 5:10 PM | link