Table 6 Content analysis of decision making about fertility preservation
From: Fertility preservation decision making amongst Australian transgender and non-binary adults
Question | Theme | N | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
How did you make a decision to undertake fertility preservation? | Individual’s desire to have the option | 11 | “I decided to undertaken fertility preservation in case I still want to have children in the future” “I wanted to have children one day. I knew that soon my window would close and that my only option was to store sperm” |
Encouraged by medical professionals | 4 | “Recommended by health carers prior to starting HRT” “I started seeing an endocrinologist at a children’s hospital who brought up the prospect of fertility preservation” | |
Encouraged by partner | 3 | “Wife wanted kids” “I was neutral on the issue and my partner felt strongly about having the option” | |
Encouraged by family members | 4 | “My parents thought the procedure would be a good idea” “My mother is insistent on having grandchildren” | |
How did you make the decision not to undertake fertility preservation? | Cost was prohibitive | 44 | “It was not available to me due to the sheer cost of it” “I was not going to be able to afford it” |
Not interested in genetic relationships and/or children | 35 | “Don’t want genetic children, therefore fertility preservation is a non issue to me” “Never wanted children” | |
Thought of children as dysphoria inducing | 34 | “I do not want children that are made through my genes. I do not want to bear children myself. The idea of childbirth adds to my dysphoria” “Conceiving and birthing a child sickens me and would humiliate me as a man” | |
Have enough children already | 20 | “Nine children is enough” “I already have two children” | |
Did not want to delay transition | 11 | “I wanted to begin my transition immediately as my priority was to treat the dysphoria. Future children were not a consideration” “Postponing hormones for possibly years until I was at the stage of my life to consider children was never an option” | |
No genetic material available | 11 | “I can’t have children anymore due to a genetic disorder” “I had cancer and chemo early which meant that I had no material to store regardless of transition” |