Womb transplant gives hope - but procedure isn't yet 'technically feasible' for many
The remarkable procedure was carried out on a 40-year-old woman at Oxford's Churchill Hospital, by a team of more than 30 staff. But the intense toll of the procedure and various ethical considerations means developments in this field may be slow.
Thursday 31 August 2023 18:02, UK
The first womb transplant in the UK is an incredible technical achievement.
And given the success of transplants elsewhere in the world, it offers hope for women and couples who want to be biological parents but for whom surrogacy is not an option.
At present, the procedure can only benefit women who have functioning ovaries, but not a womb.
This represents about 1 in 5,000 women in the UK.
But it's unlikely all those eligible and who want biological children will choose this option.
Having a baby via a womb transplant involves four major operations.
The donor (assuming they are a living donor, as in this UK first) must have their womb removed.
The recipient must then have the womb transplanted into them and take immune-supressing drugs for the duration of the transplant.
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Any birth would then involve a caesarean section, before removal of the womb after they have decided to have no more children.
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Each of these procedures carries risks for the women involved, and potentially for the baby they carry - some babies born via womb transplants have been premature.
There are therefore important ethical considerations the doctors carrying out these procedures must weigh up.
These factors mean this is likely to be a field that moves slowly - at least as things currently stand.
Trans women, for example, are entitled to equivalent care under the Equality Act 2010.
But for the time being, transplanting a womb into a genetically XY person isn't "technically feasible," according to the team behind this work.