Should requests for donor insemination on social grounds be expanded to transsexuals?

Abstract

Donor insemination may provide an answer to transsexuals with female partners who have a wish for a child. Although the follow-up on children born in the context of these families is non-existent and the follow-up on transsexuals after sex reassignment surgery (SRS) is limited, fertility centres might consider accepting the requests of transsexuals with a female partner. Between 1997 and 2001, nine couples presented themselves at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine of the Dutch-speaking Brussels Free University, of whom five couples were accepted. Nevertheless, some caution is called for because transsexualism is socially not accepted. Moreover, transsexualism is still considered to be psychiatric condition. The following recommendations should be taken in consideration. Treatment should be limited to female-to-male transsexuals with a female partner. A multidisciplinary team of specialists should carry out the diagnosis for gender identity. Developmental problems of the gender-disordered child might interfere with socio-economic, psychological and emotional stability in adulthood. The period of sex reassignment should be nearly completed.

Genetic or Biological Trans Parenthood: Dream or Reality?

“…Basically, this procedure is no different from the insemination of donor semen in other heterosexual couples. The literature reflects a debate on the acceptability of such a procedure (Baetens et al 2003;De Sutter 2003b). For this reason we have initiated a long-term study to observe the development of these couples' children.…”

“…Subsequently a debate began also among fertility experts whether trans persons who after their transition wish to have children in their relationship should be supported. The crucial question here was whether trans persons can be good parents or not and whether one has to fear a negative influence on the child's sex development or sex/gender identity (Baetens et al 2003;De Sutter 2003a). There had been the same debate already years ago regarding homosexual persons (Hanscombe 1983) and this issue was then just as insulting for this group of people as it is today for trans persons.…”

Access to fertility services by transgender persons: an Ethics Committee opinion

“…Although there is growing acceptance of the use of ART by gay and lesbian patients, some providers express discomfort about providing fertility services for transgender patients (18). Although ART programs may receive requests for fertility treatment or fertility preservation from transgender persons, programs vary in their acceptance of such patients (14,(19)(20)(21)(22). Resistance to providing treatment is typically grounded in either concern for the welfare of the patient or concern for the welfare of the offspring, or both.…”

L’homoparentalité et la transparentalité au prisme des sciences sociales : révolution ou pluralisation des formes de parenté ?

“…Une étude plus récente montre que les enfants s'adaptent bien au transsexualisme d'un de leurs parents, surtout s'ils sont jeunes (White et Ettner, 2007). Petra de Sutter (2014) note plus récemment que la question sous-jacente de ces études, comme ça avait été le cas dans la discussion autour de l'accès des personnes homosexuelles aux techniques de PMA, était de savoir si les personnes trans pouvaient être de bons parents et ne pas influencer négativement le développement sexuel ou l'identité de genre de l'enfant à naître (Baetens et al, 2003 ;De Sutter, 2003). Les résultats de ces études sont identiques à ceux des études sur les enfants de mères lesbiennes : le développe-ment de ces enfants ne diffère guère de celui des autres enfants.…”