The Daily Mail reports that the person identified as "Marco" had her breasts removed in a double mastectomy, had grown a beard, and was assigned a male name by Italian officials before medical officials at a Rome hospital discovered the pregnancy. Marco was subsequently urged to discontinue hormone replacement therapy.
Giulia Senofonte, an endocrinologist in Rome told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica: "If therapy interruption is not immediate there can be consequences, especially in the first three months of pregnancy, which is a delicate time for the development of the infant's organs."
The baby, who is a boy, is at risk of cardiological problems "due to the combination of high values of both sexual steroids (testosterone and estrogen) with repercussions on general health, for example on the coagulation state, arterial hypertension and so on," Senofonte said.
When addressing how Marco became pregnant, the endocrinologist said, "Hormone therapy blocks the menstrual cycle but it is not a contraceptive. The person can continue to ovulate and, consequently, runs the risk of pregnancy."
A psychoanalyst and consultant at a gender dysphoria clinic, Matilde Vigneri, reported to the Italian paper that: "'If Marco's pregnancy goes ahead, according to the law Marco will find himself being a biological mother and legal father, mother because he will give birth to a child, father because at the registry office he now has a male identity."
She added that this situation will "force Italy" to "deal with this new form of motherhood."
"Yes, it will be a shock, in our country same-parent families still have no rights, let alone a child born in such a special condition," Vigneri said.
