Pregnant man in Finland in difficulty getting social benefits

A pregnant man in Finland is facing problems with the Finnish social security system, the media reported on Saturday.

The man was born as a woman and started a sex correction process to stay with another man. The couple are in their 30s, Xinhua news agency reported.

The couple wanted a baby and the man had interrupted his hormonal sex correction treatment before getting pregnant. But now he faces problems with the current legislation which does not recognize his access to social security.

Currently, men are not entitled to parental child compensation in Finland. The law on "maternity compensation" determines that the eligible person must be a woman who has been pregnant at least 154 days.

The future father told news agency Lannen Media that the legislation should be amended.

"It is the rights of the child that matter," he said. The man is four months pregnant, so the couple still have some time to the start of authorized public compensation, the report said.

The couple said the Finnish healthcare professionals had no problem with them except that the administrative systems do not recognize a situation where a pregnant person has the male social security number.

Finland maintains a system of social security numbers where men and women have different codes.

American Thomas Beatie was reportedly in 2008 the first man in the world to give birth. Since then there have been reports about men who had given births at least in Germany, Austria and Britain, according to the Lannen Media report.

--IANS

soni/mr