Can Thomas really be considered the first pregnant man?

No

10 of 11

by Kirsty O'Lone

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When I heard the story of the worlds first pregnant man I was surprised, and curious as to how this was possible. Then I found out that this man used to be a woman who had a sex change operation to become a man, but still has the internal reproductive organs of a woman. So no in my opinion Thomas cannot be considered the world's first pregnant man, although he, and society may accept that he is a man technically speaking he is not.

After finding out that his wife is unable to have more children, the couple made the decision to use Thomas' female organs to have a child. Therefore biologically speaking this child is being carried by a woman, and not a pregnant man.

He said that he kept his female organs because he always wanted to have children, but surely this is something he gave up when he decided to become a man. Plenty of couples who cannot, for whatever reason, have children choose to adopt in order to become parents and I see no reason why the couple didn't choose this option.

The media interest in this pregnancy is such that it is sure to be putting added pressure on the couple, who have already lost one baby. Choosing to adopt instead would have avoided all this additional stress, as it would have gone unnoticed by the press.

Who knows if this pregnancy is even safe, the couple have already lost one child and Thomas was apparently near death as a result. The hormones taken by Thomas during his change from woman to man could possibly have an adverse effect on the child, and Thomas who will now be producing more female hormones due to the pregnancy could also suffer because of this.

There will no doubt be much debate over whether Thomas can in fact be considered to be the world's first pregnant man, and this will put added pressure on the couple, and the child who will no doubt be hounded by the press and bullied at school as a result. In my opinion Thomas cannot be considered the world's first pregnant man, as although he has had a sex change he still has a womb where this child is growing and therefore must still biologically be considered a woman.

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