U.K. first womb transplant

[VestaTilley]

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

I never said it doesn’t exist

i merely said someone thinking women would be snatched off the streets and their wombs ripped out is ridiculous

womb transplants have been done for years, decades in fact. What makes you think this will start all of a sudden?

What's your view on cornea transplant, as sight is not vital for survival?

Thanks for that.
This is horrible and yet again all the 'yay, whoopie' lot are again showing how fucking selfish they are and how un child centred they are, who cares about how risky this is likely to be to a foetus as long as adults get what they want.

Did you actually read my full post before quoting me? I said I feel uncomfortable but am aware it's hypocritical and I would accept an organ for my child and i accept medical care for me.

Yes Medical science makes me uncomfortable as does other types of science. I am not a scientist or a medical professional so I don't see whats do wrong with me being hesitant and uneasy in the face of procedures I do not fully understand. I am not overly anxious and embraced the covid vaccine for example but I would be lying if I didn't admit I was slightly uneasy at the idea of having a vaccine that was put together very quickly to fight a virus that gripped the planet. I am grateful that humans are capable of so much but I am also uneasy of what they are capable of

Because organ harvesting is on the rise so it is likely, statistically, that at some stage wombs will also be on the black market. Why wouldn’t they be?! It’s naïveté to think they wouldn’t.

What's ridiculous and narrow minded is you thinking that It could never happen.

I think you are unreasonable. Yes transplants safe lives but they also better lives.

As long as the same rules apply then it is no different to other organ transplant.

The 10 brain dead women lined up for transplant thing isnt horrific. They will be on the organ donor list.

There's a total misunderstanding about what transplants are for here - it's not about life-saving things. It's about life-improving things. I had a cornea transplant. I wasn't blind, or going to go blind. I had extremely poor sight but it wasn't blindness. The transplant was the only way to improve it, just like people wear glasses or contact lenses.

I think it could be amazing. I can see situations where people with ovarian cancer, who have had hysterectomies, are now able to have a child. How amazing is that? Someone who's been dealt a shit hand at life, with the double blow that they would then not be able to have kids, get a reprieve. Incredible, in my eyes.

How is it risky for the child?

babies have been born from womb transplants for decades. There has been a lot of research into this area.

first in the UK doesn’t mean first ever

I couldn't get past the number of surgeries and doctors and medical staff it took to do this purely optional, non-lifesaving procedure when I think of the number of people languishing on NHS lists for cancer treatment, hip and knee replacements, etc

I suppose as soon as they run out of the brain dead women mentioned in the article to harvest them from.

Well, I've got my child, so if my sister comes knocking tonight, telling me she wants my womb to have her own child then wheel me into hospital now and she can have it tomorrow.

Were you suggesting that it's easy to have ethical objections providing you have children already?

Good thing I didn’t say it could never happen then isn’t it

The woman who received the transplant had to have IVF treatment beforehand but the transplant was free. If this works how long before people are looking to the NHS to provide free IVF and transplants. More importantly, when women are told to avoid nearly all medicines in pregnancy how can this be safe for the child

I am not in favour of this at all. A slippery slope. It is a shame as it could put people off donating life saving organs. I will certainly be updating my donor card to say not everything is up for grabs.

i agree , this is absolutely unnecessary and wrong. More erosion of what a woman is

@ConkersAndChestnuts people are on here saying that womb transplants shouldn’t take place because of the potential for organ trafficking/harvesting. I’m just making the point that yes this already happens with organs that are used regularly for transplants, kidneys and livers etc. Is anyone saying that we should stop these transplants because of the (relatively rare) problem of trafficking?

What is hyperbolic, rather than my obviously sarcastic comment in the previous post, is people coming on here saying that this still relatively new and uncommon surgery is going to lead to women being dragged off the streets, murdered and having their wombs taken. How many women to do we think are looking for a womb or a uterus? I’m going to go with not many.

I know right

i assume you also have this energy for those naughty surgeons performing skin transplants, hand transplants and cornea transplants.

damn them with their non lifesaving procedures

They chose to do it unpaid and in their free time, which they’re perfectly entitled to do. Should medics be banned from any kind of non-essential non-lifesaving voluntary work in their non-working hours because they ought to be only caring about cancer and knee ops?

I agree with many of these points. I’m really uncomfortable with it. Mostly, it’s because I just can’t imagine risking the life of my sister (a mother to children who need her) with complicated invasive surgery, and a presumably horrible recovery period. No doubt with life long impacts as well.

Just so I could have a biological child. It’s awful really. Selfish and monomaniacal beyond understanding.

I've just gone to the Organ Donation website and refused to be an organ donor: this after many years of supporting organ donation. Doubt my elderly uterus (or other body parts) will be of use to anyone, but dammit, it's my only way of making a point.

And when they run out of heart of kidney or cornea donors do they force people to sell them?

But I haven’t said that, so why direct your petty little comments at me? Egg harvesting is on the rise, so it stands to reason at some point a womb will be harvested too. Pretty much all body parts have been harvested. And that would involve a woman being kidnapped. That is the post I was responding to. So have your silly scrap with someone who is making the point you’re pissed about, not me.

I think if anyone returns from abroad miraculously 'cured' having previously needing a transplant as their last option that the police should be immediately informed and the person investigated and jailed for life if found to have been involved in illegal organ harvesting, regardless of whether it is a cornea, kidney, heart or uterus.

If doctors and scientists are going to advance medical science they need to make sure that medical ethics and law keep up.

In theory womb transplants between sisters or mothers are a positive thing and likely to be preferable to surrogacy, but these advancements still need to be scrutinised to make sure that nobody is coerced or kidnapped and mutilated. Pretending it doesn't/won't happen is not good enough.