Did you know that Thomas Beatie (a transgender man born a woman) in 2008 became world-famous for being the first pregnant man in history to give birth to a girl child, naturally, and later two other children?

Anyone who has a uterus and ovaries can become pregnant and give birth. The uterus is the womb, which is where the fetus develops. People who are born male and living as men cannot get pregnant. A transgender man or nonbinary person may be able to, however. Male reproductive organs include testicles and a penis but no uterus.

Assigned female at birth, Thomas Beatie underwent sex reassignment surgery involving a double mastectomy, also known as "top surgery", and officially changed his sex marker from "female" to "male" on his state and federal identity documents in 2002. However, he retained his female reproductive organs, which later allowed him to become pregnant.

As a teenager, Beatie was a model and Miss Hawaii Teen USA pageant finalist. He competed in karate and Taekwondo, winning a junior championship in Taekwondo forms in the 1992 Aloha State Games. He graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in health science and later pursued an Executive MBA.

Beatie married Nancy Gillespie in 2003. The couple moved to Bend, Oregon, in 2005. When the two decided to start a family, Beatie chose to carry the child, since Nancy was unable due to a prior hysterectomy. Beatie suspended testosterone hormone treatment in order to conceive but the first conception was an ectopic pregnancy with triplets that was life-threatening, requiring a surgical intervention and the loss of the embryos and his right fallopian tube. He became successfully pregnant afterwards, twice with donor sperm, delivering both children without complications.

Beatie stated that he felt no conflict between his pregnancy and his gender as a man, saying that he considered himself the child's father and his wife Nancy the mother. He gave birth to his second child, a son, in 2009. The couple's third child, a second son, was born in July 2010.

Beatie later elected to have "lower" surgery, including the creation of a functional penis. The procedure, performed by transgender surgeon Marci Bowers, was documented on his second appearance of The Doctors, in 2012. The procedure, called a ring metoidioplasty, included transfer of tissue, elongation of the hormonally enlarged phallus, as well as urethral construction and lengthening.

Beatie's pregnancy has challenged social and legal definitions of what constitutes being a man or a woman. Beatie's story helped promote transgender issues in the media; other trans men had given birth before Beatie, but were neither reported on nor legally recognized as male.

Shortly after Susan was born, Beatie authored his first book, Labor of Love: The Story of One Man's Extraordinary Pregnancy (2008). In Labor of Love, Beatie describes the fight for his right to have a child. Publishers Weekly said the book was "A compelling, unique narrative". Book List praised it as "Unforced and unpretentious," and the New York Times called it "Defiant and transformative."

Beatie and his former wife, Nancy, separated in 2012, and in 2016 Beatie married his second wife, Amber, who worked at the daycare his children attended. They had a baby together in 2018, to whom Amber gave birth. Today, Beatie and his family live a relatively quiet life in Phoenix, although Beatie occasionally takes on public-speaking jobs or small acting roles (maybe you saw him as an extra in a U-Haul commercial).

Since Thomas Beatie became the first man to give birth in 2008 after he kept his female reproductive organs when he transitioned to male, others such as American transgender man Nick Bowser have also given birth. And it seems this occurrence has extended to Australia. In the 2013-2014 financial year, 22 men in Western Australia gave birth to their own children, while in NSW 16 men had babies. Plus seven men in Victoria, six in Queensland, two in South Australia and one in Tasmania all became new dads in an unconventional way. The men were mostly aged 24-36 with 32 of the babies being born from males in that age group. One man aged 55-64 also had a child.

It is likely that the men giving birth were born female but identify as male and kept their female reproductive organs after transitioning. This was the case with Thomas Beatie who gave birth to his first child in 2008, and has since had two more children.

Sources: Wikipedia | 
Daily Mail

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