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LOS ANGELES: An American man who was born a woman before undergoing
gender realignment surgery has given birth to a baby girl, US media
reported Thursday.
Thomas Beatie, who is legally male but decided
to keep his female sex organs during chest reconstruction surgery
and testosterone therapy, attracted worldwide attention in April
after revealing his pregnancy.
The 34-year-old gave birth to a baby girl at a
hospital in Bend, Oregon, on June 29, People Magazine reported.
“The only thing different about me is that I
can’t breastfeed my baby. But a lot of mothers don’t,” the
magazine quoted him as saying.
It said the girl is Beatie’s first child, and
he had given birth naturally, not by Caesarean section.
Beatie, who sports a beard, was dubbed the
“pregnant man” after appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s television
talk show to discuss his pregnancy.
“I feel it’s not a male or female desire to
have a child. It’s a human need. I’m a person, and I have the
right to have a biological child,” he told the chat show queen.
Beatie’s unusual situation first became public
when he wrote an article in the leading US gay magazine The Advocate
in March, entitled “Labor of Love.”
“To our neighbors, my wife, Nancy, and I
don’t appear in the least unusual,” he wrote, explaining that
his wife was unable to have a child after undergoing a hysterectomy.
So he chose to become pregnant by artificial
insemination, he said.
“Our situation sparks legal, political, and
social unknowns,” Beatie wrote, adding the couple had experienced
opposition from health care professionals, friends and family.
One doctor refused to treat the couple, after
consulting an ethics board.
“How does it feel to be a pregnant man?
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,” Beatie wrote.
-- AFP
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