Transgender Victoria said they think the number of males giving birth with increase in coming years

It is likely those who gave birth were transgender men who kept their female reproductive organs after transitioning

Medicare statistics show that 22 men were from WA and 16 from NSW

Pregnancy is something which is traditionally only applicable to women, however new statistics reveal it may be becoming more prevalent among males.

In the past year 54 Australian men have given birth according to Medicare - who recently allowed people to elect their own gender on documents, rather than being forced to record the sex they were born.

Since Thomas Beatie became the first man to give birth in 2007 after he kept his female reproductive organs when he transitioned to male, others such as American transgender man Nick Bowser have also given birth.

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In the past 12 months 54 Australian men have given birth. Pictured here is Thomas Beatie, the first male ever to have a baby

And it seems this occurrence has extended to Australia. In the 2013-2014 financial year 22 men in Western Australia gave birth to their own children, while in NSW 16 men had babies.

Plus seven men in Victoria, six in Queensland, two in South Australia and one in Tasmania all became new dads in an unconventional way.

The men were mostly aged 24-36 with 32 of the babies being born from males in that age group. One man aged 55-64 also had a child.

No male births were recorded in the ACT or the Northern Territory, according to the Medicare statistics.

It is likely that the men giving birth were born female but identify as male and kept their female reproductive organs after transitioning.

This was the case with Thomas Beatie who gave birth to his first child in 2007, and has since has two more children.

Mr Beattie, a transgender male, was born a female and as he kept his reproductive organs he was able to give birth to three children

The Australian Health Department confirmed the statistics to News Corp, saying they were informed of such cases around the country.

'The department is aware of cases of persons identifying themselves as male having pregnancy related treatment which can be claimed under Medicare. Previously these items could not be paid to male patients,' a health department spokeswoman told the Herald Sun.

In addition to men giving birth, they have also been accessing abortions, although the exact figures on this are unclear as they are tallied under the same code as a dilatation and curettage (D&C).

Transgender Victoria spokeswoman Sally Goldman told Daily Mail Australia the statistics do not come as a surprise and supported the decision by Medicare to allow people to record their own gender.

'People need to be their true self in relationship to gender identity and gender expression ... I'm not really surprised.'

A few years ago transgender couple Bianca and Nick Bosher had a child, with Nick - who was born Nicole - giving birth

As for whether she believes this will be something we see more often in the future, Ms Goldman predicted that we will see the number of transgender males giving birth increase.

'I think it will ... people are saying well we've got a right for life, so yes it will increase.

She added that while she understands that while people's relationships with their bodies and gender identities run deep and may differ, people have the right to simply be themselves.

'We're not just two groups of three and a half billion each, we are all different people,' Ms Goldman said.



