Kerala trans man fighting historic legal battle to preserve egg cells

KOCHI: A 28-year-old from Attingal who was assigned female at birth, identifies as a transgender man and has undergone gender-affirming treatment including hormone therapy and double mastectomy in 2023 is currently involved in a landmark legal battle. Hari Devageeth is seeking the right to cryo-preserve his gametes (egg cells) for use at a later stage in life. In a petition filed before the Kerala High Court, Hari stated that he has not yet completed sex-reassignment surgery. Once he undergoes the procedure, he will lose all remaining feminine reproductive features and will have to undergo a complete hysterectomy, including removal of the ovaries. Before taking that irreversible step, Hari said he wishes to preserve his gametes to keep open the possibility of having a biological child in the future. However, the situation is not in his favour. The central government has informed the court that under the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Act, the procedure can only be accessed by a commissioning couple, defined as a married man and woman, or a single woman. Single men and transgender persons are not covered under the ART Act or its Rules, leaving Haris request outside the existing legal framework. The court will consider the issue on December 1. In his plea, Hari said he approached a private clinic in Thiruvananthapuram for freezing and storing his eggs. The clinic advised him to undergo an abdomen and pelvis ultrasonography, which did not indicate any significant abnormalities. After the tests, he approached the clinic again with a request for cryo-preservation. However, the private facility relayed its inability to do so, on the grounds that there is no provision under ART Act or the Rules which enables it to cryo-preserve the gametes of a transgender person. Regulatory limits arbitrary and illegal, says petitioner Hari argued that the ART Act and the Rules which limit the benefits of the act only to couples or women are arbitrary and illegal. In an affidavit, the undersecretary of the central health and family welfare ministry submitted that the transgender man cannot avail ART treatment. After undergoing sex-reassignment surgery, the petitioner can no longer avail the benefit of ART services, as for undertaking an IVF procedure, a womb of a mother is required for implantation of embryo as well as carrying the child to term. The only option available with the petitioner would be to undergo surrogacy using his eggs which is also not permitted under the provisions of the Surrogacy Regulation) Act, it said.