A transgender man who underwent a mastectomy while transitioning in Italy was found to be five months pregnant — joining a rare group called “seahorse fathers.”
The parents-to-be, referred to only as “Marco” in Italian media, had undergone a mastectomy and were preparing to remove the uterus when the pregnancy was discovered at a hospital in Rome, the Telegraph reported.
“After discovering pregnancy, the first thing to do is hang up [hormone] immediate therapy,” Dr. Giulia Senofonte, an endocrinologist, told La Repubblica, the news channel that first reported it.
Sex therapists warn that the fetus can be at risk.
“If the cessation of therapy is not immediate, there may be consequences, especially in the first trimester of pregnancy, which is an important time for the development of the baby’s organs,” said Senofonte.
“It’s hard to talk about it in abstract terms but it all depends on the timing of the suspension of the testosterone dose that the person is taking,” he added.
The Italian transgender man was in the process of transitioning when he was found to be five months pregnant. Ermolaev Alexandr – stock.adobe.com
High levels of male and female hormones in the parents’ bodies carry cardiology risks because of possible blood pressure and clotting problems, Senofonte said, according to the Times of London.
“Hormonal therapy suppresses the menstrual cycle but it is not contraceptive. The person can continue to ovulate and, as a result, be at risk of pregnancy,” he said.
“People dealing with transition usually recommend contraceptive pills that can be used during hormone therapy,” added the expert.
Marco, who is expected to carry the pregnancy, will be the child’s biological mother but will be legally registered as the father, according to La Repubblica.
The unusual case – believed to be the first of its kind in Italy – made him a member of a small group of people known as “seahorse fathers,” transgender men who carry babies, the Telegraph reported.
The man, known as Marco,” found out about the pregnancy in a Roman hospital. AFP via Getty Images
The term comes from the fact that among seahorses, males carry and give birth to their young.
Italian law allows abortion after 90 days only in cases of serious fetal malformations or significant health risks for the mother – but the psychological stress of extraordinary childbirth can justify a therapeutic abortion, said Matilde Vigneri, a consultant at the gender dysphoria clinic in Palermo.
“If Marco’s pregnancy continues, Marco will find himself the biological mother and legal father,” she said, reported the Times of London.
“It will be a surprise. Here same-sex families still have no rights, imagine a child born in such special circumstances,” said Vigneri.
Toni Brandi, president of Pro Vita e Famiglia, a conservative Catholic foundation, said she hoped Marco would decide to stop his therapy permanently.
“The theory of gender instability is total madness. It is against science and against nature,” said Brandi. “This case is a challenge to the theory of gender because it shows that a woman is a woman.
“If I consider myself a woman tomorrow, it does not make me capable of bearing children,” she added.
Several transgender men have given birth in the US but the case is believed to be unprecedented in Italy.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
