“Pregnant Man” Isn’t a Man

There has been some twitter about a “man” who has become pregnant. Assuming the story is genuine, and I have my doubts, the man isn’t a man. Biologically, she’s a transgendered woman who became a man under the law and is married as a man under the law. Because his wife has had a hysterectomy, he decided to become artificially inseminated, and the child will be biologically his because his female organs remain intact.

He claims to have been discriminated against by doctors. If true, that is wrong. His health and that of the baby depend on good prenatal care. Doctors should not deny necessary treatment based on their moral disdain of their patients’ lifestyles.

The pregnant husband told his story to the gay newspaper, The Advocate, writing:

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. In a technical sense I see myself as my own surrogate, though my gender identity as male is constant. To Nancy, I am her husband carrying our child—I am so lucky to have such a loving, supportive wife. I will be my daughter’s father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family.

They will be a family, but he is not really a man. She is a woman, biologically. That’s why she is capable of having a baby. So, the facts are that a woman, who identifies as a man, is having a baby. That’s not the same thing at all as a man having a baby. We can redefine all we want, we can say that legally she is a he, but that doesn’t change biology. A woman is having a baby and that is not remarkable at all.