Iris de Nie

29 REFLECTING ON THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY BUILDING AND FERTILITY PRESERVATION 2 42% does not struggle with this at all 2% struggled with this in the past, but not anymore 1% did not struggle with this in the past, but does now 19% struggles with this sometimes, but it does not affect quality of life 9% struggles with this sometimes, it slightly affects quality of life 1% struggles with this often, it affects quality of life quite a bit 1% struggles with this continuously, it severly affects quality of life 25% not applicable Figure 3. Feelings regarding not having children (N=89) Figure 3 . Feelings regarding not having children (N=89) Advices for trans youth regarding fertility Lastly, participants were asked what advice they would give to adolescents,who will shortly start medical treatment, concerning fertility and fertility preservation. The most often mentioned advice was to pursue fertility preservation to keep the option for genetically related children open (34%). Furthermore, 12% recommended adolescents to be well educated about fertility, the options for fertility preservation, and the consequences of their decisionsregardingfertility.Someparticipantsmentionedtheimportanceof involvingfamily, friend or peers in making choices regarding fertility,whereas others recommended to solely focus on their own feelings.Also, 17% of participants advised to carefully consider all forms of parenthood, and 13% warned adolescents that their views regarding parenthood might change over time: “For 20 years I was firmly convinced that I never wanted a partner or children. Now, I have been married for 5 years, and we are in the process of having children. If someone had told me this in the first 20 years of my life, I would not have believed it at all. In retrospect, I would have liked to make other choices, but at that time I was not even able to consider them. Therefore, my advice is: procrastinate and play it safe whenever possible!”