Diane Rodríguez and her husband, Zack Elias, are a trans couple in Ecuador. Chichicko/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
After I speak about our analysis workforce’s work on being pregnant in transgender folks, folks usually recall Thomas Beatie, a pregnant man who appeared on “Oprah” and in Folks journal in 2008. The media deal with Beatie and his being pregnant provoked public fascination that tended to overshadow the on a regular basis lived realities of being pregnant as a trans particular person.
Transgender folks, versus cisgender folks, have a gender id that’s totally different from the gender they had been assigned at beginning. Some might go on hormone remedy to assist align their physique with their gender id. Like most trans males, Beatie went off testosterone throughout his being pregnant as a result of it was medically suggested as customary follow. However testosterone remedy is commonly important to the psychological and bodily well being of many trans males in addition to some nonbinary folks whose genders don’t match inside the classes of man or girl. What’s the expertise of pausing therapy like for them? Why do medical tips suggest going off testosterone?
As a sociologist who research intercourse, gender and sexuality, and trans experiences of household, well being and well-being, these questions piqued my curiosity. I work with a world workforce of researchers on a undertaking about trans males and nonbinary folks’s experiences of being pregnant. We interviewed 70 trans and nonbinary individuals who had been both at present or desiring to turn into pregnant, in addition to 22 well being care suppliers specializing in working with these communities, throughout seven nations.
Testosterone remedy
Whereas testosterone is extensively thought-about a “male hormone,” all folks produce testosterone. Physicians contemplate a variety of testosterone ranges to be “regular.”
Thomas Beatie is a trans man who acquired widespread media consideration throughout his pregnancies.
Christopher Hunt/TB through Getty Photographs
Many transgender and nonbinary folks take testosterone as a part of their psychological and bodily well being care. Testosterone remedy usually ends in a extra masculine look by way of facial hair and muscle progress, fats redistribution and lowered vocal pitch.
Along with bodily adjustments, a lot of our research members spoke of optimistic psychological well being enhancements whereas on testosterone remedy, together with feeling calmer, balanced and extra totally themselves – typically for the primary instances of their lives. This can be a widespread discovering throughout analysis on hormone remedy and trans and nonbinary folks.
Whereas there’s no common dosing protocol for trans or nonbinary folks present process testosterone remedy, the Endocrine Society’s therapy tips suggest supplementing testosterone till blood ranges fall inside these for cisgender males. By basing scientific requirements on cisgender males, these tips can reproduce intercourse and gender binaries that won’t match with precise wishes of many trans and nonbinary folks. Some resist this prescriptive medical mannequin by microdosing testosterone, with or with out well being care supplier help.
Testosterone and being pregnant
When my workforce and I analyzed our analysis interviews, we realized that the well being care suppliers in our research sometimes instructed their trans sufferers to cease testosterone remedy both six months earlier than attempting to get pregnant or instantly upon turning into conscious of being pregnant. In addition they suggested persevering with to withhold testosterone remedy till both after beginning or stopping chestfeeding (nursing their infants). This might imply a pause in testosterone remedy for as much as two years.
Why do docs inform trans and nonbinary sufferers to cease testosterone remedy throughout being pregnant?
Trans artist Chella Man weighed the choice of stopping testosterone remedy throughout being pregnant in a 2022 efficiency piece.
The well being care suppliers we interviewed expressed considerations about sufferers persevering with testosterone whereas pregnant or chestfeeding. Once we requested them what dangers they had been most involved about, they usually famous that there’s both not sufficient or inconclusive analysis on utilizing supplemental testosterone throughout being pregnant. Regardless of this, practically the entire suppliers we interviewed routinely suggested sufferers to pause testosterone remedy with out reservation.
Some suppliers in contrast persevering with testosterone remedy throughout being pregnant to illicit drug use throughout being pregnant, perceiving it as a future threat to the kid. Others urged that testosterone use throughout being pregnant is egocentric as a result of it prioritizes the guardian’s personal well being and well-being within the current over the potential well being and well-being of their little one sooner or later. Some suppliers even urged that trans and nonbinary sufferers shouldn’t have youngsters if they’re unwilling or unable to pause testosterone remedy throughout being pregnant.
In distinction, the trans males and nonbinary folks we interviewed described grappling with tough and weighty choices round pausing testosterone throughout being pregnant. These choices usually concerned selecting between their very own psychological well being and well-being towards the potential well being and well-being of their little one. As one participant described their expertise going off testosterone throughout being pregnant:
“My lows had been depressing, depressed, to the purpose of suicidal. … I knew that going again on testosterone would assist. I didn’t actually know whether or not [my doctor] can be pleased to re-prescribe me testosterone … and there was a worry there that it will be withheld from me … that they had been going to say, ‘Effectively, sorry, you got here off it, you’re not getting it again.’”
PCOS and producing ‘regular’ youngsters
Regardless of it being pretty customary medical recommendation, there stays comparatively scant empirical proof guiding the follow of pausing testosterone remedy for trans males and nonbinary folks throughout being pregnant and chestfeeding. There may be additionally at present no revealed work on microdosing testosterone throughout being pregnant.
As a substitute, a lot of the medical literature on the potential developmental results of “extra androgen” publicity within the womb focuses on pregnant folks with polycystic ovary syndrome who’ve testosterone ranges that usually fall between these for cisgender ladies and men. These research heart on the chance of the newborn later creating intersex situations, or having organic traits that don’t match binary definitions of male or feminine traits; later self-identification as lesbian or trans; metabolic and cardiovascular dysfunction, resembling weight problems; and neuropsychiatric issues, resembling autism and attention-deficit dysfunction. Most of those considerations have concerned youngsters categorized as feminine at beginning.
Folks with polycystic ovary syndrome, nevertheless, will not be routinely positioned on testosterone blockers throughout being pregnant or discouraged from feeding their infants milk they produce.
Pursuing parenthood as a trans particular person in an anti-LGBTQ atmosphere comes with many challenges.
In my evaluate of our interviews and the medical literature, I turned more and more involved that this deal with producing “regular” youngsters fails to take care of each pure human variety in cognitive processing, our bodies and identities, and the psychological well being of trans and nonbinary mother and father. It might additionally echo eugenicist insurance policies that try to remove human traits and communities that society deems inferior or dangerous. However folks from these communities have executed an excessive amount of work over the previous a number of a long time to make sure they’re granted equal rights and protections.
Paradoxically, the will to guard offspring from testosterone publicity throughout being pregnant and chestfeeding might turn into a way to forestall the replica of among the exact same traits held by trans and nonbinary mother and father themselves. As one participant famous:
“There’s a bunch of analysis round androgen publicity in utero and intersex situations. … I did have advanced emotions round working arduous to not have an intersex little one. … As somebody who’s a gender ‘different,’ to work arduous to not create a distinct physique that may be a gender ‘different’ feels bizarre. It feels hypocritical.”
Transferring past one-size-fits-all
Whereas considerations about “androgen extra” throughout being pregnant for trans males and nonbinary folks parallel these for folks with polycystic ovary syndrome, docs deal with these circumstances in a different way. This discrepancy in scientific method signifies that there could also be different pathways ahead that don’t require stopping testosterone remedy utterly.
I imagine that cautious consideration to the bodily and psychological well being and well-being of trans and nonbinary folks earlier than, throughout and after being pregnant is lengthy overdue in drugs. As a substitute of approaching testosterone remedy throughout being pregnant as a binary sure/no query or a one-size-fits-all customary, investigating how numerous dosages of testosterone might have an effect on all phases of being pregnant and chestfeeding might result in higher outcomes for each trans mother and father and their youngsters.
Carla A. Pfeffer acquired funding from the Financial and Social Analysis Council for her work on the Transgender Being pregnant Venture.
The Trans Being pregnant Venture workforce contains: Sally Hines (PI), Ruth Pearce, Carla A. Pfeffer, Damien W. Riggs, Elisabetta Ruspini, and Francis Ray White.
