All They Need Is Love?

Any environment is good enough for a child to be raised in as long as love is present, according to Good Morning America.

Even if a father gives birth to his own child. 

Thomas Beattie, a transgendered 'man,' announced her pregnancy earlier this week in an article written for The Advocate, a homosexual publication.  Beattie, who is legally a man in the eyes of the state of Oregon, has an intact female reproductive system but had her breasts removed and takes testosterone injections to appear as a man.  Beattie is married to Nancy, a woman who cannot have children.  The couple decided Beattie should carry the pregnancy. 

Dr. Lisa Masterson, an obstetrician/gynecologist, appeared on the March 26 broadcast of Good Morning America to discuss how a man could be pregnant.  Asked about psychological implications “for the child to know that the mother is also the father,” she replied,

Well, as an ob-gyn and as a mother, basically really what I feel is the most important in raising a child is love. So that's the most important, and as long as this couple, you know, decides their roles, which, “he's” taken on the male role, she's taken on the female role. And they love this child, nobody is given a license to have a baby. If they love this child, then it should be fine.

ABC's Chris Cuomo agreed, “Oddity aside, biology aside, it's all about love for this child and as long as that's present, everything else is really going to be normal.” 

Normal?  How many pregnant men do Cuomo and Masterson know?

Beattie acknowledged that this “situation sparks legal, political and social unknowns,” in the Advocate article, but ABC failed to explore those “unknowns.” 

First of all, Beattie is physiologically a woman.  Masterson herself acknowledged this:

A transgender “man” can be pregnant because “he” has the same organs as a woman. “He” has a uterus, "he" has ovaries and "he" has the same hormones.  So those were never changed in “his” gender reassignment.  So as long as those are fine and functioning correctly, “he” has no problem with having a baby. 

ABC should have asked: “If a person has female reproductive organs but can still be considered male, what now makes a person female or male?” 

Second of all, the very thing that is making Beattie appear male, the testosterone shots, have to be discontinued during the pregnancy to avoid physical complications for the baby. Effectively the Beatties' “marriage” is between two women, and same-sex marriage isn't legal in the United States.  ABC could have asked about the status of their relationship for the duration of the pregnancy.  Will it be demoted to a civil union until the baby is born and Beattie can resume the testosterone injections?

Finally, Beattie stated in the article, “my gender identity as male is constant.”  Cuomo, did, perhaps unintentionally, point out the inconstancy of the situation by saying “In order to manage the health of this baby, this 'man' will have to stop taking hormones that actually made 'him' a 'man' and go back as much as possible to being a woman which is what 'he' was before 'he' became the 'man.'” 

At least this story featured somebody from the medical profession to speak about the transgender issue.  In a GMA story earlier this month on transgenderism, producers failed to offer any moral context and instead portrayed it as a “complicated choice.” 

But GMA can still improve their reporting by going beyond the novelty of such situations and examining the “legal, political and social unknowns.”