Pregnant trans man speaks out against medical discrimination
Thomas Beatie, a transgendered man from Portland, Oregon, has revealed he is pregnant in the latest issue of The Advocate.
Beatie, who transitioned from female to male, said he has faced discrimination from doctors and healthcare providers over the pregnancy.
During his transition, Beatie decided not to remove his reproductive organs and stopped taking testosterone injections so he could become pregnant.
Beatie and his wife are expecting a baby girl in July.
In the most recent issue of US gay magazine The Advocate, Thomas Beatie, who is from Oregon, writes about his extraordinary experience of carrying a child as a transgendered man.
Beatie details his decision to transition from male to female eight years ago, including undergoing chest reconstruction surgery and going on testosterone therapy.
During the transition, however, he decided not to have his female reproductive organs removed.
After transitioning, Beatie was able to be registered legally as a male and legally marry his wife, Nancy.
Beatie said he and his wife always wanted to have children, but Nancy was unable to carry a baby because of a hysterectomy due to severe endometriosis.
During the couple’s search for assistance in their unusual circumstances, Beatie says he faced a lot of discrimination, including being laughed at and refusing to call Beatie by male pronouns.
The first doctor they spoke to told Beatie to shave his facial hair and forced the couple to see a psychologist to see if they were “fit to bring a child into this world.”
The doctor and his staff later refused to continue working with the couple, after several thousand dollars had already bent spent on treatment.
A variety of other doctors followed, but the couple were unable to find someone they could work with comfortably.
The couple eventually purchased sperm anonymously and tried at-home insemination.
Beatie was able to successfully become pregnant with triplets, but lost the pregnancy after it became life-threatening. Beatie’s second pregnancy, a girl, is healthy and expected to arrive at the beginning of July.
In his column for The Advocate, Beatie wrote that it feels “incredible” to be a “pregnant man”.
He says that although he is engaging in a traditionally female biological process, he is “stable and confident being the man that I am” and in one sense sees himself “as my own surrogate”.
© 2008 LesbiaNation.com; All Rights Reserved.
