Midwifery students at one of Scotland’s top universities have been told that biological men can get pregnant and trans men can give birth even if they have a penis.
MailOnline can show £9,000 per year undergraduate course at Edinburgh Napier University, including activation form on the care of “born people”.
In a textbook that has since been revised, midwives in education have been given detailed instructions on how to treat a male-to-female transgender person during childbirth.
It is not possible for a person born as a male to become pregnant or give birth with current technology or drugs.
In the book’s introduction, “You may be looking at a pregnant or giving birth person who has transitioned from male to female and still has external male genitalia.”
Another photo demonstration section explains how to insert a catheter into a person with a penis and scrotum during childbirth.
The book also contained specific instructions for people with biological male prostate glands who might experience some “discomfort.”
Several experts criticized the university, describing its course materials as “remarkably ignorant of basic biology, gender, and anatomy.”
After the protest, university leaders changed the phrase from “male to female” to “people switching from female to male”.
Midwifery students at a major Scottish university have learned that biological men can get pregnant and give birth through their penises. A textbook that has since been revised has told students that “you may be looking at a pregnant or giving birth person who has transitioned from male to female and still has external male genitalia.”
A section on catheter insertion during childbirth repeats the rule and provides specific instructions for people with a penis.
One instruction reads: “Wrap a sterile cotton ball over the penis and retract the foreskin, if present, using the same non-contact technique.” “Place a sterile towel over the person’s thighs, making sure the scrotal area is covered,” she adds.
But all references to the treatment of the penis, prostate gland, and other male genitalia persist, according to Redux, who first deciphered the story.
The way the handbook has been modified creates more confusion, as it suggests midwives can expect to treat biological women with a penis.
Reduxx didn’t mention the university but MailOnline knows he’s Edinburgh Napier, just one of four in Scotland to offer a non-credit midwifery course.
MailOnline has repeatedly contacted Napier for comment.
Dr. Leila Hanna, a private gynecologist and midwife, said universities should focus on teaching midwives “what is really doable.”
He told MailOnline: “It takes a lot for technology to do that (a biological man giving birth).
“We should be able to give men a womb and put eggs and sperm in it – I haven’t seen a publication yet that says we’ve got this technology.
“Let’s focus on improving what we do and what’s achievable, but don’t start imagining things that probably won’t happen tomorrow.”
Only people born as females can produce eggs, so it is not possible for a male-to-female trans woman to conceive naturally.
The heads of Edinburgh Napier University (pictured) changed the entry phrase to “transition from woman to man” after the uprising
Scientists think it is theoretically possible for a trans woman to be fertilized by in vitro fertilization by fertilizing eggs outside the body and then implanting them.
But for the fetus to grow, there needs to be a healthy uterus, and transplants take years, if not decades, for that to happen.
There has been only one documented case of womb transplant in a trans woman born as a male. — but died of complications a few months later.
Female-to-male transgender people can still get pregnant, provided they have not had a hysterectomy as part of their transition or have not taken medications that block hormones that prevent them from producing eggs.
There are no exact figures on the number of transgender births worldwide or in the UK.
Seventy-five people identified as male gave birth in Australia, the most comparable country in the data, in 2020.
Napier students said they received a “Skills Workbook” last month in a module on how to care for patients who have given birth.
He told them that on two separate occasions the “real person” could be a biological male.
That’s why students should be familiar with catheter insertion for people with “female and male anatomy,” he said.
Sometimes a catheter is inserted during a cesarean section or when women are given certain medications that prevent them from going to the toilet.
Section 4.4 of the manual shows several images of a catheter inserted into the penis and scrotum of a male figurine.
One instruction reads: “Wrap a sterile cotton ball over the penis and retract the foreskin, if present, using the same non-contact technique.”
“Place a sterile towel over the person’s thighs and make sure the scrotal area is covered,” adds another.
The book states that different doses of analgesic gel should be used depending on whether the pregnant woman is a man or a woman – 6 ml for women and 11 ml for men.
Students are asked to watch out for “male subjects” with prostate glands specific to biological males.
Removing the catheter can be particularly “irritating” if the deflated balloon passes through the prostate gland, he said.
Dr. Susan Bewley, Professor Emeritus of Obstetrics and Gynecology at King’s College London, described the courses as “puzzles”.
Quoted by Reduxx: ‘There are no conditions under which qualified midwives can be asked or expected to catheterize a penis as part of their professional practice.
“The authors seem to be extremely ignorant drop-outs of basic biology, gender, and anatomy.”
According to Reduxx, which describes itself as a “women’s news and reviews” site, the guideline has been modified to remove claims that a biological male can become pregnant.
But the site now claims that a biological woman can have children even if she has a penis surgically made using phalloplasty.
Dr. Bewley added: ‘Some [female-to-males] genital surgery, but often even those with a surgically formed neo-penis cannot get pregnant because they have had a hysterectomy to begin with.
“These materials are the opposite of the quality education patients need from midwives and doctors.
“The project may have emerged out of compassion and enthusiasm, but the worrying thing is that the authors don’t seem to know the facts, care or control.”
The three-year midwifery course at Edinburgh Napier costs £1,820 per year for Scottish students and is government funded.
Students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland are required to pay £9,250 per year.
Source: Daily Mail
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