Transgender men who become pregnant are facing social and health challenges in and out of the doctors office.
Alexis Light, Juno Obedin-Maliver, Jae Sevelius and Jennifer Kerns administered an online survey to 41 transgender men who birthed at least one child about demographics, hormone use, fertility, pregnancy experience, and birth outcomes from March 2013 to December 2013.
The study, which was published in Obstetrics & Gynecology this month, found that while transgender men were having no issues conceiving they had issues when it came to health care provider awareness and knowledge about the unique needs of pregnant transgender men, as well as a desire for resources to support transgender men through their pregnancy.
"They just feel a lot of isolation from the health care community," said Dr. Jennifer Kerns, the senior author of the study. "And we have some indication from our qualitative results that depression might be exacerbated for folks who are transgender, both during pregnancy and after."
The size of the survey was small, which the authors of the study stressed, so the biggest findings in the survey was that much more research on transgender male pregnancies is needed.
The study came about after Light, who was once Kerns' student in medical school, found herself being asked by transgender friends what their pregnancies would be like and if it would even be possible for them to conceive.
Light couldn't find the answer and later on decided to ask Kerns to help her with the study since the subject needed much more attention.
In the survey 25 of the men who conceived had already began using testosterone, suggesting that the testosterone may not have an affect on the ability to conceive. When a transgender man does try to conceive, however, he has to stop taking the hormone until after he gives birth.
"Pregnancy and childbirth were very male experiences for me," said a 29-year-old respondent in the study. "When I birthed my children, I was born into fatherhood."
