Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Campaigners question ethics of Britain's first 'male mother'

Telegraph: Although he has legally changed his gender to male, the man in question was able to give birth last year because his womb was not removed during the original sex change procedure. It is possible for transgender men who were born women, who still have functioning ovaries and a uterus, to become pregnant while still identifying and living as men.

. . . Earlier this month the Create Fertility Centre in Toronto revealed that it was providing hormone treatment for a number of male sex change patients with intact wombs who are hoping to become mothers. Clifford Librach, the clinic's medical director, would not confirm how many men are pregnant or when any babies are due to be born, but he has defended his stance in the Canadian media.

The [UK's] Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority . . . does not keep any data on female to male transsexuals who have become mothers but a spokesman said that it may start collecting statistics in the future.

Gedis Grudzinskas, editor of Reproductive Biomedicine Online, said he believed many patients would go to India because ethical scruples would make most British doctors reluctant to help.

. . . The cancer risk associated with retaining a uterus and ovaries that are exposed to high levels of the male hormone testosterone means that most women changing sex choose to have them removed.

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