Transsexual people who want transition
to their desired gender have to undergo hormonal and surgical treatments,
which lead to irreversible loss of their reproductive potential. This paper
argues that transsexual people should be offered the same options as any
person that risks losing their germ cells because of treatment for a
malignant disease. Indeed, transsexual women (male-to-female transsexual
patients) may be given the option to store spermatozoa before they start
hormonal therapy, so that their gametes may be used in future relationships.
This may be especially important for the
many transsexual women who identify as lesbians after their transition.
Conversely, transsexual men (female-to-male transsexual patients) may be
offered storage of oocytes or ovarian tissue, possibly obtained at the time
of their oophorectomy.
Current technology offers transsexual
people the possibility to obtain children who are genetically their own in
their future relationships and the option of gamete banking should therefore
be discussed before starting hormonal and surgical reassignment treatment.
This is particularly important for
transsexual people who are diagnosed and treated at a young age.
Citation:
Hum Reprod 2001 Apr;16(4):612-4 an article
published on the Internet by PubMed <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/>
