I’ve withdrawn from organ donation register

[Purpledogcollar]

I give blood and have always been very pro organ donation.

Sadly I have just withdrawn as protest against reproductive organ donation. I can’t support it and am very conflicted as would like to donate other organs.

What are your views and is it a hasty decision (although not sure I would change my mind).

It’s technically possible, but not legally possible in the U.K. (yet)
You are failing to grasp that nettle.

I’m in the U.K.
Using a DD for uterine transplant isn’t included in the NHS opt out strategy as with other novel transplants like face, hands and so on, they’d have to get the explicit consent of your NOK or consent in a living will to take your uterus. They cannot legally in the absence of explicit consent just swoop in and take it.

From reading on twitter, MANY of us have opted out in the last week. Many, many women have. It's been an influx. So you are not alone OP, in fact you're in the norm with this. I think those blaming us are blaming the wrong people. Blame the idiots that thought up this garbage. People have beliefs that need to be respected. Donating organs is a gift, it should not be an expectation. Or done under pressure. This is a very serious concern many women have. It's a very serious topic, and a very private decision, and no one should be shaming you or shaming anyone. The ones who are to blame are the idiot scientists who wasted precious funds on this stupid and self-indulgent idea, instead of concentrating on REAL issues like cancer, HIV, etc etc. That funding went to something so stupid and pointless and self-indulgent is infuriating.

As to the 'oh it's not happening yet'. Currently. However at the rates governments around the world have pandered to mens rights under the guise of trans and have removed womens rights, even re-defining us as a sex class, I do not trust governments on this. I say this very sadly, as I've always been up for donating my organs. That changed it from opt in to opt out without any consultation. What makes you think they want do the same with this? Don't be so naive and trusting. When it comes to women-specific issues, I don't trust governments at all. I am sorry to any potential recipients, but it is far too great a risk to my sincerely held beliefs. It's the fact that however tiny, it exists at all. And it is a RISK that any deceased woman on the register might have their womb removed. Even if tiny, it's still a risk, so therefore a genuine risk. And many of us women do not want to even be in that position that we may be one of that 'tiny' few. It's not a 'transphobia' (although breathing seem to be 'transphobia' these days, everything is 'transphobic'), it's a genuinely held belief. Please try and respect people's genuinely held beliefs, even if it isn't the same as yours.

Well, do men even have the plumbing to have a uterus implanted in their abdominal cavity? I do think this “I’m opting out of donating all my organs just in case this might one day be a thing where they can legally take my uterus for a woman even though they can’t yet AND science somehow figures out how to actually surgically put one in a man” is a just teensy bit phobic.

I mean for women who know men are biologically different from women, you’d think it would be a bit more apparent you can’t just stuff a uterus in their belly and it actually work? Female organs can’t really plug and play in a male body.

Everything that is possible today was once thought impossible. Everything. And there is a risk that a uterus may not be transplanted, but may be experimented on to get the plumbing right, before they even go to the transplant route. I don't want to take even that risk, even.

And it is a RISK that any deceased woman on the register might have their womb removed. Even if tiny, it's still a risk, so therefore a genuine risk.

Right now there is zero risk that your uterus would be taken and put in a man’s body. Right now even if you hadn’t opted out, they still couldn’t remove your womb because they need the explicit consent of your NOK who’d follow your wishes. Even then, it would be put in the body of an infertile woman but this surgery isn’t even being done in the U.K., we are doing live donor transplants as we work out the ethics and legal framework. If you were approached to be a live donor, you’d be able to say no.

All you are doing is a pointless protest that is literally going to cause innocent people to die needlessly.

No there isn’t! They can’t take your uterus to experiment on unless you’ve formally donated your body to science. Which is not the organ donation register.

Not read the full thread but YANBU. There was talk of this a few years back and many trans women were gloating on Twitter how they'd soon be able to give birth so I removed myself from the organ donation register then. It doesn't sit right with me and unless I can be very, very sure that my womb won't be ripped out and inserted into a male then I will remain off the register.

@Sueveneers
Uterine transplants were researched and developed for women.
They’re for women with absolute uterine factor infertility, a condition previously without any treatment options at all.
Why isn’t that a real issue or a women’s issue to you?

You're missing the point. Science moves quickly. Just becaause it's not available 'right now' doesn't mean it won't be at some point. And given, again, as I've already stated, that rules are changed with no consultation, I do not trust any government on this. At all.

I am not the one who is causing people do die needlessly. Neither is the OP. Or any of the many, many women who opted out in the last week. It is the scientists and the trans activists pushing for this. Blame THEM. Not us. They, are solely responsible for this.

Again, they are researching transplanting them into trans women. They've said so themselves. You're missing the point. There are more articles on this thread about it:

Pink News themselves have said they expect the trans plants for trans women within 10 years. Scientists did surveys aimed at trans women to guage how willing they would be. THIS IS REAL! It's not some 'idea'. Trans people have been pushing VERY HARD for this, and they rejoiced last week.

Some people are so damned naive.

Yes, people on this thread are so blissfully unaware of all this. It's frustrating how naive some people are. It's so frustrating. Wake the f up, people! (head - desk)

I think it's so sad that you would take the decision to deprive people of life-saving organs if tragedy should happen, simply because of a prejudice about who might receive one (especially when such a procedure isn't a thing anyway).

A friend of mine has been living in a hospital ward for over 6 months on the urgent heart transplant list. If this doesn't happen for him fairly soon then he probably won't be well enough to have the op and his wife/children/mother/siblings/other family and friends will be left without him. Because I have a congenital heart condition I know quite a few transplant recipients and it is a massive op but has an absolutely miraculous impact on recipients and all their family & friends.

Obviously not everyone believes in donating and most people are fortunate enough not to know anyone in need of an organ - but I'd encourage everyone to seriously consider the implications of their choice for those unfortunate enough to be in need of an organ. Is your hatred of trans men truly greater than your altruism? You can ensure that your family are aware that you do not want your reproductive organs to be transplanted in any circumstances.

To let a prejudice stand in the way of a life-saving choice seems to me to be a sad thing to do. Campaign as much as you like while you're alive - but if you die... please think of the families waiting, hoping and wishing for good to come out of that tragedy.

From the thread I posted:

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."

....and some are stupid. But it's great to know that you'd also refuse an organ transplant on general principle.Wouldn't do to benefit from such a corrupt system now would it?

Your body, your choice.

Illogical, pathetic and rather spiteful rationale though.

https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/23/trans-womb-transplants-years-away/

https://www.thepinknews.com/2022/05/11/trans-uterus-transplant-pregnancy/

This. This thread is disgusting and must be causing huge distress to people on donor waiting lists and their families. I sincerely wish there was a ‘by opting out, I accept I cannot receive a donation’ checkbox.

That’s just heartbreaking. You are opting out of organ donation when doing so factually has no impact on a potential, future risk of your womb being taken and put in the body of a man without your consent.

You are, in fact, gambling with the lives of innocents, including women and girls to die, over fear of a future that has not yet come to pass. If the science did get there, it’d be in the news. If the rules changed, it must be publicly announced and put in the news. As you have a vested interest in this topic, you’d not be unaware if your fear one day became a reality. At that point, it would take you less than a minute to go an opt out. Why do it now? Just why?

It’s a pre-emptive strike that harms innocents who are among the most vulnerable and needy in our society. We need more donors, not fewer!

Between this potential future dystopia and now, you could be in an accident and you are literally denying your fellow human beings the benefit of everything other than your womb. Organs you’ve said you’d be happy to donate if it were not for this one fear.

I’m sorry, but I’m not buying the “blame the scientists and trans activists” line. You’ve made this choice. It’s one you do not have to make. Staying on the register doesn’t mean your uterus is up for grabs or risk it being taken, at all. It’s just a fear, a potential future risk that might not even happen.

Advocating a real risk of more deaths of the 4,000 odd waiting for an organ as pawns in a political protest over some future dystopian fear is not something I can ever support. It’s against every moral tenant I hold dear.

What's disgusting is how blissfully naive and gullible people are. Goodness. Wake up.