TheTimes.co.za – Rowan Philp – London
A woman who became a man is now expecting – and finds himself in an ethical morass
The first fertility doctor Thomas Beatie visited told him to shave his beard off. Others refused to call him “him” – because the 34-year-old, who had been born a woman but was legally classified a man after a sex change, was seeking to be inseminated so he could carry a child.
Finally he decided to inseminate himself and this week proudly proclaimed to the world that he was almost six months pregnant with a baby girl, who is scheduled to be born on July 3.
The announcement by Beatie, a bearded and flat-chested screen-printing entrepreneur from Oregon state in the US – ignited a storm of controversy after he was pictured posing with his swollen belly in a magazine in the US.