UK transgender man who gave birth is child’s mother: court

LONDON: A transgender man who gave birth but did not want to be registered as the child´s mother on the birth certificate lost a legal battle at England's High Court on Wednesday.

Freddy McConnell, 32, was born as a woman but has lived as a man for several years. He was biologically able to get pregnant and give birth -- and had legally become a man when the child was born in 2018.

McConnell wanted to be registered as the child's father or parent. But Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division of the High Court, ruled against him. "There is a material difference between a person's gender and their status as a parent," the judge said in his ruling.

"Being a ´mother´, whilst hitherto always associated with being female, is the status afforded to a person who undergoes the physical and biological process of carrying a pregnancy and giving birth.

"It is now medically and legally possible for an individual, whose gender is recognised in law as male, to become pregnant and give birth to their child. "Whilst that person's gender is 'male', their parental status, which derives from their biological role in giving birth, is that of ´mother´."

Lawyers say the child would have been the first person born in England and Wales legally not to have a mother, had McConnell won. McConnell's story was told in the documentary "Seahorse" -- a reference to the fish that reproduce through male pregnancies. McConnell is considering whether to appeal against the court's decision.