It is not just transgender women who have the female genital because of a surgical procedure. A Georgia woman underwent surgery to create a vagina because she was born without one and she wants to become a mother.
The case of 23-year-old Devan Merck, reported by the New York Post, is due to her suffering from Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome. It is a rare congenital disorder affecting the reproductive tract of a female. She was born without the vaginal canal, cervix and a malformed uterus.
At age 13, Merck had hysterectomy and then reconstructive surgery when surgeons used tissue grafts to create a vagina for the Georgia teen. Instead of the usual female genital, Merck was born with a thick layer of skin that covered her front groin region.
Surgeons cut open the thick layer of skin which covered her vaginal opening and took skin from her buttocks which they placed inside the slit created by doctors. The vaginal opening was created so she could have sexual intercourse, Merck said.
While Merck stressed she is not different from other females since she has a man-made female genital rather than a fully functioning vagina. But she admitted being bullied as a child because of her rare condition. Children teased that she was a boy or a freak, while her boyfriends – upon learning she could not have sex – left her.
Even after her surgery, one boyfriend with whom she had sex for the first time, called her names and continued to reminder Merck she is different. But she finally met Trent Merck whom she married in 2011 and planning a family with her. Since her ovaries produce eggs, she got a really good friend to be a surrogate.
She and Trent are raising $20,000 by starting a GoFundMe page for IVF treatment and surrogacy process. So far, she has raised $6,024 from 43 donors who have donated money the past four months. She wrote in the page that she and Trent, after a lot of thought, decided the best option for them to have a biological child from their egg and sperm is through surrogacy.