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Original poster

U.K. first womb transplant

719 replies

VestaTilley · 23/08/2023 10:29

The BBC has reported today that the first womb transplant has taken place in a hospital in England. A 40 year old woman donated her womb to her sister, hopefully enabling her to have children.

AIBU to be concerned about a potential dystopian future where women’s reproductive organs are harvested like car parts?

Journalists are treating this like it’s a positive, with few questions being asked about how the donor is recovering, how the foetus (if the recipient does conceive) will fare if the woman has to continue taking immuno suppressive drugs? Whether there is increased miscarriage risk?

Transplants are supposed to be life saving, not about wish fulfilment. Apparently 10 brain dead women are being lined up for future donation!

To me this all seems part of a bigger picture of surrogacy, synthetic embryo creation (reported earlier this year) and a drive to disassociate women from reproduction and the biology of our sex.

Am I alone in being bothered by this? I wish journalists would look more at the bigger societal picture.

Link here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66514270

The surgeons performing the womb transplant

Woman receives sister's womb in first UK transplant

The 34-year-old hopes to now become a mum as older sister donates her womb in pioneering transplant.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66514270

OP posts:
Thread gallery
31
GrumpyOldCrone · 23/08/2023 10:44

Possimpible · 23/08/2023 10:38

Hands and faces can be transplanted, they're not life-saving either but can make a huge difference to someone's quality of life. I also have reservations about who these transplants could go to, but in the case where donor and recipient are related and consent I can't see this as anything but a nice story.

I agree with this.
I also don’t see this as a slippery slope to implanting wombs in men.

VeterinaryCareAssistant · 23/08/2023 10:44

The donar wombs are also transferred into the women and then removed once they've had one or two children.

I saw this on the TV this morning and my first thought was how much could I sell my womb for. I don't need it anymore.

changedname79 · 23/08/2023 10:44

I found this scary too. Aside from the issues that have already been mentioned, I also wondered why the patient has gone to such extreme lengths just to be able to possibly carry a baby. They apparently have embryos ready to transfer, but there must be so many health risks with this transplant operation, plus risks of miscarriage, pregnancy complications etc. why would she have gone to this extreme when she could find other ways of having a child which are less risky?

Butritobaby · 23/08/2023 10:45

YABU, but this is MN where lines of batshit people will line up to agree

there is nothing official about ‘brain dead’ women being lined up to donate.

this is hysteria, plain and simple.

I hope your life gets more meaning so you can stop being worried about shit like this at some point.

Butritobaby · 23/08/2023 10:45

changedname79 · 23/08/2023 10:44

I found this scary too. Aside from the issues that have already been mentioned, I also wondered why the patient has gone to such extreme lengths just to be able to possibly carry a baby. They apparently have embryos ready to transfer, but there must be so many health risks with this transplant operation, plus risks of miscarriage, pregnancy complications etc. why would she have gone to this extreme when she could find other ways of having a child which are less risky?

What other ways?

surrogacy? Which most on here hate too

Chersfrozenface · 23/08/2023 10:45

As soon as I first heard of womb transplants being mooted, I opted out of organ donation.

I'm very sorry about those who might have benefitted from any other of my usable body parts, but until there is a specific, cast-iron opt-out for reproductive organs, I'm a non-donor.

Elphame · 23/08/2023 10:45

I opted out of donating any organs as soon as we were all deemed to be up for grabs.

I do not regret my decision.

I have no particular worries about this donation as it was done from a live donor to a very close blood relative who otherwise could not have children but I am absolutely against the use of brain dead donors for a uterine transplant and transplants from live donors to unrelated strangers. That is absolutely ripe for abuse.

MMorales · 23/08/2023 10:46

Tacocatgoatcheesepizza · 23/08/2023 10:34

I don’t really see this as different to any other organ transplant really. I follow a lady on Instagram in the US who had a uterus transplant and she is just full of gratitude and joy for the baby she is now carrying after being told at 14 she had no uterus and would never have children.

10 deceased brain dead women - again, it’s organ transplant which their families will have had to agree to. I am an organ donor as I’m sure most are now and would have not problem with my womb or uterus being used to help a woman who couldn’t have children.

Edited

I feel its completely different.

This isnt a life saving procedure.

For this reason it shouldn't be available on the NHS. And yes I'm also updating my organ donation preferences.

Maybe not in the UK, but you can bet there are teams of surgeons racing to be the first to do a successful transplant into a male, and then have the first live baby born to a male.

Butritobaby · 23/08/2023 10:46

This reply has been deleted

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VeterinaryCareAssistant · 23/08/2023 10:47

@MMorales it isn't on the NHS. It's funded by a charity.

FloweryName · 23/08/2023 10:47

I’m uncomfortable with it too. It seems like science for the sake of science and while there is limited funding and resources for science and research I can’t help but think those things would be better directed elsewhere.

changedname79 · 23/08/2023 10:47

@Butritobaby well if her sister was ready to risk her life by enduring this operation, and the recipient hers, surely the sister could have been the surrogate?

Tacocatgoatcheesepizza · 23/08/2023 10:48

Chersfrozenface · 23/08/2023 10:45

As soon as I first heard of womb transplants being mooted, I opted out of organ donation.

I'm very sorry about those who might have benefitted from any other of my usable body parts, but until there is a specific, cast-iron opt-out for reproductive organs, I'm a non-donor.

This seems……. dramatic?

Original poster
VestaTilley · 23/08/2023 10:50

@lightinthebox it’s in the BBC article in the OP. It says “10 with deceased, brain-dead donors”. So presumably women who’ve since passed away, but may well have had their wombs removed when they were still alive, but in a brain dead state.

I actually think I might be sick. And yes to PP who suggests removing ourselves from the organ donor list.

SurrogacyConcern have been tweeting about it this morning. No journalists appear to be asking any of the important questions. World at One are doing a weekly special on fertility all week- will listen in and see if it’s mentioned.

OP posts:
Clymene · 23/08/2023 10:51

These are the results from a study of 10 uterine transplants: Graft survival is 70% at one year. Recipient survival is 100% at two years. Live donor survival is 100% at three years. Three live-births have been achieved, two from a LD and one from a graft from a nulliparous DD. Vaginal anastomotic stenosis occurred in 63% (5/8) of grafts. Three recipients developed severe acute rejection.

(LD = live donor; DD = dead donor).

The risks seems massively high to the recipient.

hdbs17 · 23/08/2023 10:51

It doesn't sit right with me at all.

Organ transplantation is about saving lives. A uterus is not a major organ and can be lived a normal life without. If you can't have children, yes it's sad but that's just life and there are other ways to have children.

How long will it be until men who have become women are demanding a uterus because they want to experience periods or carrying a baby?

Butritobaby · 23/08/2023 10:51

VestaTilley · 23/08/2023 10:50

@lightinthebox it’s in the BBC article in the OP. It says “10 with deceased, brain-dead donors”. So presumably women who’ve since passed away, but may well have had their wombs removed when they were still alive, but in a brain dead state.

I actually think I might be sick. And yes to PP who suggests removing ourselves from the organ donor list.

SurrogacyConcern have been tweeting about it this morning. No journalists appear to be asking any of the important questions. World at One are doing a weekly special on fertility all week- will listen in and see if it’s mentioned.

You know that’s the process for most organ donation right?

UsernameNotAvailableNow · 23/08/2023 10:51

@changedname79 I think the article said the sister was 40 and there may be age limits on surrogacy. Also the sister wants two kids so the sister would potentially be pregnant for 18 months, plus all the recovery. I can see why whipping it out and giving it to her would be the easier option. Not that I agree with it.

Stormydayagain · 23/08/2023 10:52

Bananas1350 · 23/08/2023 10:32

No I agree. Wait till they start putting it into men. It’s horrific. And I actually cannot believ they were allowed to do this.

If this does happen I wonder what impact it will have on the "opt out" organ donation system now in place. I have always opted in by not removing my consent, but would not want my body parts used experimentally within an ideology I disagree with.

HarrietPierce · 23/08/2023 10:52

It's the first in the UK- not elsewhere.

""In 2014 a woman in Sweden became the first to have a baby as a result of a womb transplant. She had received a donated womb from a friend in her 60s.
Since then 100 womb transplants have taken place worldwide and around 50 babies have been born, mostly in the US and Sweden, but also in Turkey, India, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Germany and France."

First womb-transplant baby born

A 36-year-old woman in Sweden has given birth to a baby boy using a transplanted womb in a medical first, doctors say.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29485996

Butritobaby · 23/08/2023 10:53

changedname79 · 23/08/2023 10:47

@Butritobaby well if her sister was ready to risk her life by enduring this operation, and the recipient hers, surely the sister could have been the surrogate?

The sister is old, and the lady who received the organ wants more than one child.

Clymene · 23/08/2023 10:53

And now her sister will be plunged into early menopause with all the risks to her health that involves.

Butritobaby · 23/08/2023 10:53

Clymene · 23/08/2023 10:53

And now her sister will be plunged into early menopause with all the risks to her health that involves.

so what?

Tacocatgoatcheesepizza · 23/08/2023 10:54

Clymene · 23/08/2023 10:53

And now her sister will be plunged into early menopause with all the risks to her health that involves.

I am sure she will be more than aware of the consequences of her decision.

SayNoToDoorToDoor · 23/08/2023 10:54

Did the donor donate her ovaries too? If she did she’ll be in menopause at age 40.

I hope they both do ok. It’s all well and good saying the surgery was a success but it’s the recovery of both of them that will be the real measure of success.

If the younger sister manages to have a baby then I fear anything adverse the older sister experiences will be swept under the carpet.

The media are saying the womb will be taken out 6 months after a baby is born, so the younger sister will have to go through a major op not long after giving birth. Plus will she be able to breast feed with the drugs she’ll be on to not reject the womb?

Too many uncertainties for me but I realise pioneering surgery is calculated risks and uncertainties.