Investigating the Origin of Discrimination Toward Pregnant Transgender Men with Proposed Methods of Medical Education Reform

Throughout history, the LGBTQ+ community has faced monumental obstacles in its journey of seeking inclusion and acceptance. Those who identify as transgender have faced some of the hardest obstacles, such as gaining support and acceptance from family and peers and pursuing gender-affirming healthcare from their doctors. In recent years, this gender-affirming healthcare has come under fire and is at risk of being banned in multiple states, proving that the attack on transgender people has only increased despite ongoing increases in acceptance and support for the LGBTQ+ community. One barrier to healthcare access that female-to-male (FTM) transgender people face is the prospect of pregnancy. Pregnant transgender men often face discrimination and prejudice by their healthcare providers when they seek obstetrics care, and in this thesis, I seek to understand and find the origin of this discrimination as well as address ways of improving undergraduate and graduate medical education to help facilitate better LGBTQ+ healthcare. I begin with an overview of LGBTQ+ history and then proceed into a detailed analysis of experiences of transgender discrimination in healthcare. From there, I investigate the origins of this discrimination and provide proposals to address and eliminate this discrimination.