A qualitative study examining transgender people’s attitudes towards having biological children and pursuing fertility treatments in Greece

Abstract

Background: Advances in biomedical technologies permit transgender individuals not only to achieve gender transition but also to experience parenthood. Little is known about this topic in Greece, a traditionally conservative country; however, Greece is changing at the legal level towards a greater recognition of transgender people’s rights. This study aimed to investigate transgender people’s attitudes towards having biological children and pursuing fertility treatments in Greece.Methods: This is a prospective qualitative study conducted with adult individuals who identified as transgender men or transgender women between April 2019 and March 2020. Individual in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with twelve participants. The interviews were carried out in person and were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. We performed an inductive analysis of the data.Results: The inductive data analysis resulted in the identification of themes that represent key barriers to pursuing fertility preservation (FP) or the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART). Six major themes were clearly present in the findings (lack of adequate information and counseling, worsening gender dysphoria, increased discrimination against transgender people due to the rise of extreme far-right populism, low parental self-efficacy, high costs, and a less than perfect legal framework). Moreover, diverse cases were examined, and minor themes, such as the symbolic value of the uterus and pregnancy, the relationship between the type of gender transition and willingness to pursue fertility treatments, and transgender people’s adherence to heteronormative patterns in the context of reproduction, were identified. Various reasons for transgender people’s differing degrees of desire for parenthood were identified.Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated contextual factors as well as factors related to transgender people themselves as barriers to pursuing transgender parenthood. Most aspects of our findings are consistent with those of previous research. However, some aspects of our findings (regarding aggressive behaviors and economic instability) are specific to the context of Greece, which is characterized by the rise of extreme far-right populism due to the decade-long Greek economic crisis and the deeply conservative traditionalist background. In that regard, the participants highlighted the (perceived as) less than perfect Greek legislation on transgender people’s right as barrier to transgender (biological) parenthood.