An Examination of “Just in Case” Arguments as they are Applied to Fertility Preservation for Transgender People

In the past, the desire to access gender affirming hormones and surgeries on the part of transgender people required forfeiting a desire to have children (De Sutter et al. 2002). In some jurisdictions this was legally prescribed, with sterilization being a necessary precondition for legal change of gender (Nixon 2013; Wierckx et al. 2012). Furthermore, in the past many transgender people who had children prior to gender transitioning were denied access to their children by family courts in custody disputes (Green 2006). Such decisions often rested on the presumption that staying in contact with a parent who has transitioned was damaging for children (Carter 2006). Early research by Green (1978, 1998), however, challenged the view that transgender people could not competently parent posttransition, and subsequent research has demonstrated positive outcomes for children of transgender parents (VeldoraleGriffin 2014; White and Ettner 2004, 2007).

These changing attitudes toward transgender people and parenting are reflected in the seventh version of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s (WPATH) Standards of Care, released in 2011...