Pregnant Man

Filed in archive Infanticipating Dads on March 27, 2008

I don't know what the world is coming to. Thanks to science and medical breakthroughs, men can be women and vice versa through surgery and hormone treatments. But a woman-turned-man getting pregnant? This is getting a little bit too freaky to me.

According to the story, Mr. Beatie was born a woman but decided to become a transgender male and legally changed his sex to male. He had his breasts surgically removed and started bimonthly testosterone injections, but kept his vagina.

Now identifying as male, Mr. Beatie legally married Nancy Beatie, the story says. The pair wanted a biological baby but Ms. Beatie was unable to carry a child. So they decided Mr. Beatie would carry the child.

"How does it feel to be a pregnant man," Mr. Beatie writes in the article. "Incredible. Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am. In a technical sense I see myself as my own surrogate, though my gender identity as male is constant. To Nancy, I am her husband carrying our child ... I will be my daughter's father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family."

This is Mr. Beatie's second pregnancy. While I don't want to pass judgment, I am inclined to question this pregnancy's legal and ethical soundness. What do you think?

Photo: KPTV