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Pregnant US man hails ‘miracle’
Posted on: April 4, 2008
- In: 'miracle | child | Hails | magazine | man | Oprah Winfrey | People | Pregnant | sex change | Show | U.S
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Oprah interview
A US man who is six months pregnant, 10 years after undergoing a sex change operation, has said he considers his unborn child a “miracle”.
Thomas Beatie, 34, said it was his right to have a child. The medical procedures he underwent a decade ago did not affect his reproductive system.
His wife says she inseminated him using sperm from an anonymous donor. Their doctor says it is a normal pregnancy.
Mr Beatie told chat show host Oprah Winfrey he had always wanted a child.
“It’s not a male or female desire to have a child,” he said. “It’s a human desire. I have a very stable male identity.”
‘Daddy’s little princess’
Mr Beatie, of Bend, Oregon, had breast surgery to remove glands and flatten his chest after deciding to become a man 10 years ago.
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 This baby is totally healthy, this is what I consider a normal pregnancy  Dr Kimberly James
Mr Beatie’s obstetrician |
“I opted not to do anything with my reproductive organs because I wanted to have a child one day,” a thinly bearded Mr Beatie told Oprah Winfrey.
“I didn’t know how. It was just a dream.”
He has been married for five years to wife Nancy, who also appeared on the show along with her two grown-up daughters from a previous marriage, Amber and Jen. They spoke of their admiration for their mother and Mr Beatie.
Mrs Beatie said the couple’s roles would not change once the baby was born.
“He’s going to be the father and I’m going to be the mother,” she said.
They revealed Mr Beatie – a former Hawaiian beauty queen – had conceived by artificial insemination, carried out with a syringe by his wife in their home, with sperm purchased from a bank.
In their first TV interview, for The Oprah Winfrey Show and People magazine, the couple were shown at home in the room that will be the baby’s nursery.
Viewers across the US on Thursday saw footage of Mr Beatie’s ultrasound scan and heard a heartbeat.
He said: “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe she’s inside me. We see her as our little miracle.”
The baby would be “daddy’s little princess”, said Mr Beatie, who described himself as a tomboy growing up.
The couple say they had been refused medical assistance by eight different doctors, before finding one who was prepared to help with the pregnancy.
Mr Beatie’s obstetrician, Dr Kimberly James, told Oprah Winfrey: “This baby is totally healthy. This is what I consider a normal pregnancy.”
The Bush administration hailed an Iraqi offensive against Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra as a “bold decision” that shows the country’s security forces are capable of combating terrorists.
At least 18 people were killed in clashes yesterday between fighters loyal to Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Iraqi troops, as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pledged to restore security in the southern oil hub.
“This is what we have been wanting to see the Iraqis do,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters in Washington yesterday. “This is one of the first times that they’ve had such an entrenched battle and we’ll be there to support them if they need it.”
The fighting is a test for Iraqi forces, who took over responsibility for security in Basra from the U.K. military in December. Iraq’s ability to tackle extremists will influence the pace at which the U.S. withdraws its forces from the country, as the conflict enters its sixth year.
Al-Sadr had repeatedly called on fighters from the militia, the Mahdi Army, to obey a cease-fire declared in August. Some elements of the group continue to target other militias and U.S.-led coalition forces.
Shiite Groups
Shiite groups including al-Sadr’s followers, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and the Fadhila party have clashed in a struggle for dominance in Basra, the site of Iraq’s second- biggest oil refinery.
Al-Sadr threatened to instigate protests nationwide if the raids by Iraqi forces weren’t stopped. “If the government does not respect these demands, the next step will be civil protests in Baghdad and the provinces,” his spokesman Hazam al-Aaraji said yesterday, reading a statement from the cleric at a news conference in Najaf aired on state television.
Fighting spread late yesterday to Sadr City in eastern Baghdad and Kut and Hilla, south of the capital, Agence France- Presse reported, citing unidentified security officials.
Footage on state television showed plumes of smoke rising above Basra city as police and ambulances raced down otherwise empty streets.
Basra has been plagued by the smuggling of “oil and its derivatives, weapons, drugs and other prohibited materials,” al-Maliki said yesterday in a statement carried by state television. The government “is firmly resolved to restore security and stability and to impose law.”
The U.S. military has said it is open to negotiations with al-Sadr’s followers. Before the cease-fire, the U.S. viewed the Mahdi Army as “the most dangerous accelerant of potentially self-sustaining sectarian violence in Iraq,” the Defense Department said in a 2006 report.
The U.S. has about 158,000 soldiers in Iraq. That force is scheduled to drop to about 140,000 by July.
Bush will announce his decision on future troop levels after General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, testify before Congress April 8-9, according to the White House.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net; Robin Stringer in London at rstringer@bloomberg.net.
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