Let's cut right to the chase. The simple, biological answer is: a cisgender man—someone assigned male at birth who identifies as a man—cannot get pregnant or give birth. He lacks the necessary hardware: ovaries to produce eggs, a uterus to house a developing baby, and a birth canal for delivery.

But that's the kindergarten version of the answer.

If you're asking this question in 2024, you're probably not just curious about basic biology. You've likely heard whispers about transgender men having babies, seen sci-fi headlines about uterine transplants, or stumbled down an internet rabbit hole of medical anomalies. The real question you're asking is more nuanced: Where are the boundaries of pregnancy being pushed, and what does that mean for our definitions of gender, parenthood, and the human body?

Let's unpack that.

The Biological Reality: Chromosomes, Anatomy, and Why It's a 'No'

For pregnancy to occur, a specific sequence needs to happen. An egg must be released, fertilized by sperm, travel to the uterus, implant in the uterine lining, and be sustained by a complex cocktail of hormones for roughly 40 weeks.

A cisgender male body is not built for any part of that sequence.

Some people point to extremely rare Disorders of Sexual Development (DSD), like Persistent Mullerian Duct Syndrome. Here, a person with XY chromosomes (typically male) retains some internal female structures, like a uterus or fallopian tubes, because of a genetic mutation.

But here's the crucial detail most articles gloss over: these structures are almost always non-functional or rudimentary. They lack the connection to a functional reproductive system. Even in these extraordinarily rare cases, the individuals are still considered male with a medical condition—not evidence of male pregnancy potential.

Another common point of confusion is abdominal or ectopic pregnancy. This is when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, sometimes in the abdominal cavity. In vanishingly rare instances, these pregnancies have progressed to term, with delivery via major surgery.

Documented Cases and Medical Anomalies: When “Male” and “Birth” Intersect

This is where the conversation gets real, and where the language we use matters immensely. The documented cases of “men” giving birth exclusively involve transgender men.

A transgender man is a person who was assigned female at birth but whose gender identity is male. If he has not undergone procedures to remove his ovaries and uterus (a hysterectomy), he retains the biological capacity for pregnancy.

This isn't theoretical. It's happening. Thomas Beatie, often called the “pregnant man,” made headlines in 2008 when he carried and delivered his first child. He was a transgender man who had undergone chest surgery and testosterone therapy but had kept his reproductive organs. He went on to have three children.

His story opened a public dialogue, but he was far from the first. Countless transgender men have built families through pregnancy, navigating a healthcare system often unprepared for them.

The Practical Reality of a Transgender Man's Pregnancy

What does this journey actually look like? It's not as simple as just deciding to get pregnant.

Most transgender men take testosterone as part of their medical transition. Testosterone halts ovulation and menstruation. To conceive, they must carefully pause testosterone therapy under medical supervision. It can take months for a regular menstrual cycle to return.

Then comes conception. Options include:

• Intrauterine Insemination (IUI): Using donor sperm.
• In Vitro Fertilization (IVF): Using their own eggs (or donor eggs) and donor sperm.
• Reciprocal IVF: A partner's egg is fertilized and implanted in the transgender man's uterus.

The pregnancy itself carries unique psychosocial dimensions. A transgender man may face dysphoria as his body changes in ways that feel at odds with his identity. Finding an affirming obstetrician is critical—one who uses correct pronouns, understands his medical history, and can manage the nuances of prenatal care for someone on a specific hormonal journey.

Delivery is typically via C-section, especially if the individual has had chest reconstruction surgery, as breastfeeding may not be physically possible.

The Science Frontier: Could a Cisgender Man Ever Give Birth?

Now we enter the realm of speculative medicine and ethics. Two technologies are often cited: uterine transplants and artificial wombs.

Uterine Transplants: The Mountain of Hurdles

Uterine transplantation is a real, successful procedure for cisgender women with Uterine Factor Infertility (UFI). Over 50 live births have resulted from these transplants worldwide. So, could a uterus be transplanted into a cisgender man?

In theory, maybe. In practice, the hurdles are monumental.

1. The Hormonal Environment: A transplanted uterus needs a precise, cyclical hormone regimen to build lining, accept an embryo, and sustain a pregnancy. In a female recipient, this can be synchronized with her own ovaries or with donor eggs and hormone therapy. In a male body, with no natural ovarian function, creating a stable, pregnancy-safe hormonal milieu from scratch is an uncharted and highly risky medical experiment.
2. Immunosuppressants: As with any transplant, the recipient must take powerful drugs to prevent organ rejection. These drugs are teratogenic—they can cause severe birth defects. The risk to a developing fetus would be immense and likely deemed unethical.
3. Delivery: A male pelvis is shaped differently, optimized for bipedal locomotion, not childbirth. Vaginal delivery would be anatomically impossible. A C-section would be the only option.

Most reproductive scientists I've spoken to put this in the “not in our lifetime” category. The medical consensus, as noted in journals like Fertility and Sterility, is that the procedure's goal is to treat infertility in women, not to enable male pregnancy. The ethics committees would have a field day.

Artificial Wombs (Ectogenesis): The True Game-Changer

This is the technology that could truly dissolve the biological link between gestation and the female body. An artificial womb, or ectogenesis system, would be an external device that mimics the uterine environment, allowing a fetus to develop from embryo to term outside any human body.

Research is in early stages. Scientists have successfully gestate lamb and mouse fetuses for periods in “biobags.” The leap to human application is decades away, fraught with technical and ethical landmines.

But if perfected, it would mean that anyone—a single man, a gay male couple, an older individual—could have a genetically related child using an embryo created via IVF and an artificial womb. This wouldn't be “male pregnancy” in the bodily sense, but it would achieve the same outcome: a man becoming a biological father without a female gestational carrier.

Your Top Questions, Answered (Without the Fluff)

So, where does that leave us?

The question “Has a male ever given birth to a child?” forces us to define our terms. Biologically, cisgender males cannot. Socially and personally, many transgender men have and will continue to do so, expanding our understanding of fatherhood. Scientifically, the future may lie not in altering male bodies, but in moving the process of gestation into a neutral, external space—a development that will challenge our deepest assumptions about family, gender, and life itself.

The answer is more than a yes or no. It's a map of where biology ends and human identity, technology, and determination begin.