He Became the First Man in History to Give Birth — His Life Changed Drastically Afterward
It’s been 13 years since the world first found out that Thomas Beatie had become the first man to get pregnant and give birth. Today, Beatie, 47, is a father to four children and is married to his second wife. As an author, public speaker and advocate for transgender issues, Beatie has made it his life’s purpose to help educate others on LGBTQIA+ issues with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.
When he was 10 years old, Beatie began identifying as a man, and he publicly came out in 1997. In March 2002, he had sex reassignment surgery. He had gotten pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007 since his wife at the time, Nancy, was infertile. The couple later divorced in 2012, and Beatie went on to marry Amber Nicholas in 2016.
Beatie made history in 2008 when he became the first man to get pregnant and give birth, and he has since given birth to two more children. His life changed drastically following the public release of his pregnancy during an interview with Oprah Winfrey. He has since gone on to write personal essays and books documenting his experience being a pregnant man, and many television specials and even movies have been made to highlight the subject.
Unfortunately, Beatie had to deal with relentless media attention and misunderstandings from strangers as more people found out about his past and continued to refer to him as the pregnant man. Nowadays, Beatie lives a relatively quiet life with his family in Phoenix, Arizona, and has made it his mission to help educate others about his experience.
According to History Of Yesterday, Beatie was born a female and was assigned the name Trace. However, he never felt comfortable in his body and sexuality and also did not know how to go about expressing his feelings as the word “transgender” held a great stigma. As Beatie got older, he realized that being in a woman’s body was not how he wanted to live his life and decided to become his authentic self.
Though it has been challenging for him to accept himself for who he is and have the courage to live his life in the most authentic way, Beatie has paved the way for many transgender laws to come into effect. He began using his voice to stand up for others who had been facing discrimination and oppression and in many ways, has changed lives for the better.
While he had his sex-reassignment surgery in 2002, Beatie decided that he wanted to keep his reproductive organs because he knew he wanted to have a family in the future. Thankfully, he was able to get pregnant and have healthy children. This doesn’t mean, however, that his experience was pregnancy was something he enjoyed or embraced with his heart.
Though he had planned for a C-Section, his daughter came 3 days earlier and he actually had a natural birth in 2008. Beatie even went on to have two more children in 2009, after which he had a hysterectomy because he did not want to have more children.
He has also candidly shared his experience of pregnancy in various interviews.
Speaking with TODAY Health in June 2021, Beatie opened up about what his life is like today and how he believes the trans community benefited from the publicized media attention his pregnancy received.
“When my story came out, there wasn’t a single person in the public eye as a transgender man — most people have never heard of it,” Beatie said. “And then on top of that, they can give birth! I think exposing the importance of fertility for trans people was a huge eye-opener.”
Beatie gave birth to his first child, Susan, in 2008, and went on to have two more children with Nancy. After the couple separated, he remarried in 2016 to Amber, who worked at the daycare his children had attended, according to TODAY Health. They had a baby together in 2018, with Amber being the one to give birth.
However, Beatie hasn’t been able to forget the way the media portrayed his pregnancy. He was dubbed as the pregnant man, a moniker he has never been able to fully shake, and dealt with a lot of misunderstandings from strangers. He was constantly misgendered and deadnamed. “It was really hard when my story came out,” Beatie said. “People were saying things on TV and in the media that if they came close to saying today, they would be immediately fired.”
Despite the backlash, Beatie is proud of his life and his family. “I don’t see anything wrong with being a pregnant man,” Beatie said. “I was so proud to be a dad, and I’m still proud to be a dad. I’m so proud that I was the one to bring my kids into the world. It’s kind of like a badge.”
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