by Gary Piquette

Created on: April 15, 2009

The Pregnant Man in the 21st Century

The idea of a man becoming pregnant and delivering a baby has been discussed for ages, and even with science and medicine advancing rapidly in the last several decades, a biological man still has not delivered a baby. The case in the news of a "man" getting pregnant and delivering a baby is more than what meets the eye. The person in question was likely biologically a woman with ovaries and a uterus and merely changed her appearance cosmetically-removal of breasts (which are not required for getting and maintaining pregnancy) and considered herself a man psychologically. Movies such as "Junior" are also taking a great deal of literary license to get around real biological problems of a man getting and maintaining pregnancy to birth.

The idea that a "man" can become pregnant and deliver a baby has to be met with an understanding of biology and medicine. Furthermore, the idea has to be discussed with a dose of caution and skepticism in the sense that first, one must decide what the definition of a "man" is and whether the pregnancy and delivery is a result of a natural phenomenon or the result of specific and extensive intervention medically and biologically. There could be circumstances whereby technically a person proclaimed or designated as a "man" could become pregnant with or without intervention such as in vitro fertilization (IVF). For example, a genetic female with 46 chromosomes with two x sex chromosomes (designated medically as 46,XX) could have extensive external reconstructive surgery to produce male genitalia and remove her breasts but if she still retains her own eggs and uterus and later if "she" wanted to become pregnant could still do so with medical assistance, including IVF. Furthermore, if a genetic 46 XX female had a particular form of PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) she might even have hirsutism (facial hair, a heavy moustache, etc.) and elevated testosterone giving her a more pronounced masculine appearance that some people might misconstrue as her looking like a man and therefore assume that she was. Then there are the cases of babies born with ambiguous genitalia and the physicians might decide with the parents consent to "decide' the sex of the child and alter the genitalia accordingly, even though the internal reproductive organs and the genetic make-up might be contrary to that decision. Then there are the very rare cases of female pseudo-hermaphrodites and hermaphrodites. In the case of psudo-hermaphrodite,

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