Can gay men get pregnant

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I asked them how I could start a family as a gay man. In some cases, infants may...

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For gay men, having a biological child can be complicated

Most people hoping to become parents envision having children who are genetically related to them.

Some labs will allow each of you to provide sperm and will use your sperm to fertilize separate batches of eggs from the donor. So I went looking into how I might build a family. That way, if twins are born, they will be biological half-siblings. The work just isn't being done otherwise.

Photo by Davide Zanin

Can men become pregnant?

Transgender men and AFAB individuals who do not identify as female may elect to undergo a range of medical treatments and surgical procedures during the transition process.

If you are considering medical tourism for surrogacy, do your homework carefully. I suspect that same logic applies for members of the LGBTQ community. Does the surrogate have any rights in the child?

can gay men get pregnant

Monseur, who is completing his postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford Medicine in reproductive endocrinology and infertility, spoke with me about the research, which appeared Aug. 4 in Fertility & Sterility Reports.

How did this study come about?

A refrain that many LGBTQ people, including myself, heard after coming out, was, "You'll never be able to have a family." Thankfully this is less common now, but for a long time this comment reflected prevailing social norms and a misconception that reproductive science wasn't advanced enough for LGBTQ people to become parents.

As a gay person growing up in a conservative environment, this was a challenge I thought about.

That gave us a window into a national group of 119 cisgender men, including five single men and 57 gay couples, who uniquely had fertility benefits. Cisgender men (assigned male at birth and identifying as male) do not have a uterus or ovaries and cannot become pregnant.

Can Biological Men Get Pregnant?

If by “biological men” we mean cis men, no.

Trans men can get pregnant, and they do.

Mental Health Considerations

Pregnancy can be a deeply gendered experience. Saying “women’s health” can unintentionally exclude trans men and non-binary people.

Compare these examples:

Exclusive LanguageInclusive Language
Women seeking abortionPeople seeking abortion
Mothers-to-bePregnant people
Breastfeeding womenChestfeeding parents

Inclusive language doesn’t erase anyone, it simply includes everyone who needs care.

Can Cis Men or Biological Men Get Pregnant?

Can Cis Men Get Pregnant?

No.

The process takes about two years and costs around $200,000 per child - and prospective gay fathers don't meet eligibility criteria for most health insurance plans' fertility benefits, although this is beginning to change.

Brent Monseur, MD, recently helped lead a study to document details of how gay men use assisted reproductive technology to build their families, including questions such as how many children they wish to have and how often their efforts succeed.

  • Phalloplasty: During this procedure, a surgeon constructs a neopenis from skin grafts. Can you summarize?

    The simplest way to put it is that LGBTQ families have shifted from being a paradox to a possibility. I have often started my patient consultations by saying, "There's not really any research on how to do this," but now we'll be able to say, "You are in the literature.

    In my own field, the professional organization that sets practice guidelines for fertility doctors says everyone should have access to fertility care. Despite these expenses, growing numbers of gay men are investing to have a biological child.Some people find surrogates in another country through medical tourism in an attempt to lower the cost.

    (This was around 20 years ago; I'm 35 now.) There was nothing at the library and very little on the internet, but I figured it probably would involve a doctor.

    In graduate school at Johns Hopkins, before I went to medical school, I worked with fertility doctors. but we should." I decided, "I'm going to go to medical school and be a doctor who does provide reproductive care to all LGBTQ people."

    Your paper gives historical context for how shifting attitudes toward LGBTQ families have changed the climate for gay men who want to become fathers.