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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Baby born after womb transplant

577 replies

Wildflowers99 · 07/04/2025 20:40

https://www.thesun.co.uk/health/34329085/womb-transplant-baby-hope/

I’m not really sure how I feel about this.

On one hand it all seems consensual and fine, and nice that they’re all happy.

On the other it seems yet more expansion of surrogacy-type science, making pregnancy/babies a sort of human right that we should go to any lengths to make possible for people. And all the ethical/moral issues around that.

What do you think?

Parents holding their newborn baby in a park.

Girl makes history as first baby in the UK to be born after a womb transplant

A BABY girl has made history as the first child in the UK to be born from a womb transplant. Grace Davidson, 36, from north London, received the organ – also called the uterus – from he…

https://www.thesun.co.uk/health/34329085/womb-transplant-baby-hope/

OP posts:
KimberleyClark · 08/04/2025 00:21

HeyThereDelila · 07/04/2025 21:20

YANBU. I’m very worried about it and don’t see it as progress at all.

Young women are already preyed on via ads placed by fertility clinics to “donate” their eggs (at huge risk to their health. And now this? In every family who has a woman without a womb there’ll be the expectation that the sister endures this so her womb less sibling can play happy families.

I’m sick of egotistical doctors pushing these boundaries without ever stopping to think what these dystopian steps will mean for all women within a few decades.

Our reproductive parts aren’t tradeable commodities. This situation is getting out of hand.

Surrogacy Concern have expressed reservations about it tonight and Sonia Sodha and others in the past have too.

I agree. It’s not a human right to have a baby.

whippy1981 · 08/04/2025 00:21

SalfordQuays · 08/04/2025 00:11

@whippy1981 can you talk me through the statistics showing how common “infertility due to malfunctioning uterus” is.

By all means I can explain your findings about polyps, fibroids, endo, asherman's etc.

KimberleyClark · 08/04/2025 00:27

Marvel23 · 07/04/2025 21:02

I follow Liz Goldman (liziscreative on insta) who is pregnant with her second baby following a uterus transplant. She has mrkh.

Is it the same uterus? I read that they can only be used once or twice at the most. Then they are removed.

TheDogsMother · 08/04/2025 00:35

@SalfordQuaysThe uterus donor is having a hysterectomy. Assuming she is keeping her ovaries they can fail as a result of the operation which then = surgical menopause. The prolapse risk is greater when the cervix is removed though I imagine this is unlikely in this instance.

TooBigForMyBoots · 08/04/2025 00:45

I saw this on the news. It was an amazing story. Women should be celebrating, not being afraid because of men.

LoztWorld · 08/04/2025 02:17

DisneyTokyoNewbie · 07/04/2025 23:30

Because when the prevailing discourse becomes "MY ability to have a baby is MY human right" then the people who are used to give YOU your human right are other women. In this country that might be someone you know and love who has voluntarily (or felt ethically obligated) to give you want you want, but in other countries it usually involves the buying and selling of other women's bodies.

Concern about hypothetical women in nonspecific “other countries” seems a mad reason to deny women here in the uk a life-changing treatment. Especially when a close family member is almost certainly the one facilitating it for them, as in this story.

TracyBeakerSoYeah · 08/04/2025 02:24

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

TracyBeakerSoYeah · 08/04/2025 02:24

Oops wrong thread!!!
Have requested it be deleted!

steff13 · 08/04/2025 02:53

Ottersmith · 07/04/2025 23:43

But the donor will be dead surely? I assumed it would just be like usual organ donation, when you are dead. You think they would take it off healthy women? Oh god, the handmaid generation will be lining up to do this you know. I already know someone who is talking about being a surrogate for her gay friends, because that generation didn't seem to get the memo that they don't exist solely to please and validate men.

I'm sure it would be like any live organ transplant, they can only take it from a healthy person.

ServantoftheBones · 08/04/2025 03:06

Helleofabore · 07/04/2025 21:27

Yes. They have. Some transgender influencers with platformed voices have stated that they look forward to getting pregnant so they can be the first to get abortions too. Other public male people with transgender identities have also stated they look forward to the days when male people could have abortions.

These sentiments are obviously very concerning.

That is nothing less than completely disgusting. Way to reveal yourself. a fucking piece of shit who never deserved the chance to try to have a baby. Shame on those of you, fucking disgusting.

TheGentleOpalMember · 08/04/2025 04:47

I think this playing god far too much. No woman is owed a child. I think if you can't have one, there is a message/reason why. There is fostering, adoption etc. Just because we cand do something, doesn't mean we should. I put this in the same category as cloning. I think it is wrong. And sorry to the women wanting this, but I don't agree with it.

AnyoneWhoHasAHeart · 08/04/2025 05:13

I think it’s awful.

I’m not interested in the anti man sentiment which seems to be an obligatory part of every thread, but it’s playing God and at what price?

It’s really unfortunate that sometimes women can’t have children, but it’s life. Sometimes we can’t have what we want to have due to circumstances but that doesn’t mean people should be able to go to whatever lengths to get it. A baby is not a right, and just because something can be done, doesn’t mean that it should.

Organ donation is a life saving experience. And it also carries risk. Risk of rejection, risk of failing, risk to the live donor. So if live donors are being used in this venture, then you’re talking about putting other women at risk for the sake of having a baby which may never actually happen.

And don’t get me started on transplantation from deceased donors.

How do people expect that to work? That people be on a list the same as other organs, and be called up in the dead of night so that they can travel for a transplant which, let’s be honest, is a lifestyle choice? And there should be a team of people on hand for the organ retrieval and subsequent transplantation? Doesn’t the NHS have enough to contend with without this?

I am currently waiting for a transplant (clue is in my username), and one of the hardest things I’ve had to come to terms with is the fact that in order for me to receive an organ, someone else has to go through an unimaginable loss. Logically I know that that person was going to die anyway. But I just can’t bring myself to hope for that call to come tonight, or tomorrow, because hoping for that, to me, amounts to hoping for someone to die so I can live.

The idea of hoping for someone to die so that someone can get that call and then maybe have a baby is despicable.

As for live donation, there is enough coercion which goes on there and then we’re talking about donation in order to save a life. I can only see that happening in the case of someone having a baby. We already see threads here of women guilt tripping (or attempting to) into being surrogates for them. That will almost certainly happen in terms of a uterus transplant. I know someone who needs a kidney transplant, and who cut off his parents because they refused to guilt his brother into donating a kidney to him. A brother he’d been estranged from for years, but even if he hadn’t, donating an organ, putting yourself at risk, is a deeply personal decision which shouldn’t ever be influenced by anyone.

TheGentleOpalMember · 08/04/2025 05:15

AnyoneWhoHasAHeart · 08/04/2025 05:13

I think it’s awful.

I’m not interested in the anti man sentiment which seems to be an obligatory part of every thread, but it’s playing God and at what price?

It’s really unfortunate that sometimes women can’t have children, but it’s life. Sometimes we can’t have what we want to have due to circumstances but that doesn’t mean people should be able to go to whatever lengths to get it. A baby is not a right, and just because something can be done, doesn’t mean that it should.

Organ donation is a life saving experience. And it also carries risk. Risk of rejection, risk of failing, risk to the live donor. So if live donors are being used in this venture, then you’re talking about putting other women at risk for the sake of having a baby which may never actually happen.

And don’t get me started on transplantation from deceased donors.

How do people expect that to work? That people be on a list the same as other organs, and be called up in the dead of night so that they can travel for a transplant which, let’s be honest, is a lifestyle choice? And there should be a team of people on hand for the organ retrieval and subsequent transplantation? Doesn’t the NHS have enough to contend with without this?

I am currently waiting for a transplant (clue is in my username), and one of the hardest things I’ve had to come to terms with is the fact that in order for me to receive an organ, someone else has to go through an unimaginable loss. Logically I know that that person was going to die anyway. But I just can’t bring myself to hope for that call to come tonight, or tomorrow, because hoping for that, to me, amounts to hoping for someone to die so I can live.

The idea of hoping for someone to die so that someone can get that call and then maybe have a baby is despicable.

As for live donation, there is enough coercion which goes on there and then we’re talking about donation in order to save a life. I can only see that happening in the case of someone having a baby. We already see threads here of women guilt tripping (or attempting to) into being surrogates for them. That will almost certainly happen in terms of a uterus transplant. I know someone who needs a kidney transplant, and who cut off his parents because they refused to guilt his brother into donating a kidney to him. A brother he’d been estranged from for years, but even if he hadn’t, donating an organ, putting yourself at risk, is a deeply personal decision which shouldn’t ever be influenced by anyone.

"anti man sentiment" 🙄 ODFOD If only there was no need for the sentiment. But lets victim-blame the women.

sashh · 08/04/2025 06:18

ExtraOnions · 07/04/2025 20:46

Men will be demanding them, as part of the delusion that they can become women.

They already are. Including one who wants to get pregnant and then have a termination.

For this woman and her partner it is a fantastic thing, but I'm not sure it should become a thing in any but the rarest circumstances.

AnyoneWhoHasAHeart · 08/04/2025 06:42

TheGentleOpalMember · 08/04/2025 05:15

"anti man sentiment" 🙄 ODFOD If only there was no need for the sentiment. But lets victim-blame the women.

Wtf are you talking about? There’s no victim blaming going on here, but the anti man sentiment refers to the fact that this turned into a trans bashing thread almost from the off, when the thread had nothing to do with it.

No doubt there are men who have claimed to want this, but biologically it’s not possible. The end.

But why can’t people discuss the actual issues and ethics surrounding this procedure (or anything else on MN for that matter) without having to turn it into an anti trans debate?

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 08/04/2025 06:46

Wildflowers99 · 07/04/2025 21:54

Just to do a proper post with my views:

  1. My primary concerns, as with surrogacy and egg donation, are always for the person doing the giving. A hysterectomy is pretty big surgery - is it acceptable to take the risk of haemorrhage etc to fulfil another woman’s wish for a baby? Would you support it if a woman bled out and died on the operating table for a hypothetical baby to have a shot at life? Not to mention the issues around consent - I can imagine a lot of sisters/friends/relatives might feel undue pressure to donate their womb, once they’re finished having children themselves. It feels like there is room for exploitation. There’s also nothing to suggest this won’t become a profitable business in less ethical countries, women selling their wombs who are desperate and impoverished.
  2. The consequences for the baby. I’ll have to read more about this but 4.5lb is very small for a term baby - did the womb support the baby adequately? Have studies been done on this?
  3. The fact it’s one step closer to trans women demanding wombs. It’s not possible now, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be in future. 50 years ago a womb transplant to another woman would’ve seemed very far off. But the future always arrives.
  4. There’s also the wider question of whether a baby is a human right that it is reasonable for other people to take significant health risks to fulfil for another - should you be able to donate anything if ‘consent’ is there? Is it a reasonable ask given infertility is distressing but not physically dangerous or painful?

I think it is yet another step toward a place where female reproductive parts are a commodity and a baby is seen as a human right, or an object to be purchased. That makes me very uncomfortable

I have a few thoughts about this.

Firstly, yes, being a living organ donor is a huge thing. But despite the risks there is an established practice of this in cases where it is possible for the donor to survive without the donated organ. People donate one of their kidneys or part of their liver to help people with kidney or liver failure. It is most common for these to be directed donations because a lot more people will be willing to go through something so extreme to help someone they love than for a stranger. I don't really see that this is all that different. OK they're not doing it to save their loved one's life, but at the same time, donating your uterus when you no longer need it is less risky than donating one of your kidneys and relying on your remaining kidney to keep functioning. I don't have a sister, and I doubt anyone would want my uterus, which has been through five miscarriages and a C-section. But if someone close to me did want it, I'd probably rather donate that than a kidney, to be honest, because I no longer have any need for it.

There is little to no risk of this creating an organ trafficking problem, because the number of women who are in the market to receive a donated uterus is so small. This is because the overwhelming majority of women already have a uterus. We know there is a market for women who cannot conceive using their own eggs to receive donor eggs. And we know there is a market for women who either have complete uterine infertility or for whatever reason do not wish to go through pregnancy and childbirth themselves to use surrogates. But most women who use surrogates fall into the latter category, and are not doing it because they do not have a uterus. Whilst there are ethical issues with both egg donation and surrogacy, these are well developed medical procedures which are barely more complicated than a woman doing IVF using her own eggs. A uterus transplant, by contrast, is an incredibly complex, risky surgery with a high failure rate. It will be significantly more expensive than using a surrogate, with more potential complications and much lower chances of a live birth at the end of the process. If you were in the business of exploiting women for their reproductive organs, you'd continue to focus on egg donation and surrogacy, because that is where there is money to be made. The number of women without a uterus who have the money to pay for this surgery (even if you can find a poor woman willing to part with her uterus, who is a good match for the recipient) is so vanishingly small that it's just not an interesting market for exploitation. And I suspect that as with all transplant surgeries, it's quite difficult to match a donor and recipient, which is another reason why directed donations from close family members are preferred.

If anything, what this does is slightly reduce the demand for surrogacy, because it gives women with complete uterine infertility the chance of carrying their own babies, rather than having someone else do it. It's debatable whether the physical risks of donating your uterus or going through a full term IVF pregnancy and childbirth are greater for the donor (at the end of the day the donor is just having a hysterectomy, which is major surgery but not particularly high risk) but at least from the baby's point of view, there is no issue of being separated from their birth mother at birth.

As for the potential for trans women to have uterus transplants, it's just not going to happen. Ever. Anyone who thinks it will simply doesn't understand how the female body works. It's incredibly difficult to transplant a uterus from a female body to another female body even if you find a donor who is compatible with the recipient. A uterus from a female donor is never going to be compatible with a male recipient, because, well, he's male. He doesn't have space for a uterus in his abdomen, he doesn't have the hormonal processes to support it, he has a Y chromosome in every cell of his DNA. Even if it could be plumbed in at all, which it probably can't, his body would reject it immediately and he could potentially die. It's just a complete non starter and anyone who believes otherwise is a fantasist.

LlynTegid · 08/04/2025 06:50

I don't see it as anything like surrogacy. I do think that there are valid concerns that should be addressed, especially that it should never be a commercial arrangement to donate a womb.

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 08/04/2025 06:52

LlynTegid · 08/04/2025 06:50

I don't see it as anything like surrogacy. I do think that there are valid concerns that should be addressed, especially that it should never be a commercial arrangement to donate a womb.

Exactly. Which is the same rule that applies to other organ donations.

Sunflowerhoneybee · 08/04/2025 07:00

I'm sure infertile people don't care how you feel and will be absolutely delighted at this breakthrough.

Cigarettesandbooze · 08/04/2025 07:04

I don’t view this as progress in any way.

Sunflowerhoneybee · 08/04/2025 07:05

KimberleyClark · 08/04/2025 00:21

I agree. It’s not a human right to have a baby.

Ignorant and heartless.

TheGentleOpalMember · 08/04/2025 07:08

AnyoneWhoHasAHeart · 08/04/2025 06:42

Wtf are you talking about? There’s no victim blaming going on here, but the anti man sentiment refers to the fact that this turned into a trans bashing thread almost from the off, when the thread had nothing to do with it.

No doubt there are men who have claimed to want this, but biologically it’s not possible. The end.

But why can’t people discuss the actual issues and ethics surrounding this procedure (or anything else on MN for that matter) without having to turn it into an anti trans debate?

'trans bashing'
'anti trans'

It's not 'anti trans' to say that men mocking women and posing and mimmicking women shouldn't have access to this procedure. It's not anti trans to say that this is about womens organs and anatomy, and some women don't agree with the misogyny that is what trans wanting wombs is. It is a very misogynistic movement and it's not wrong to point out that there is a real push to insert wombs into males, and a lot of women will conscientiously be against it for that reason. It's a fair and valid point to raise. Especially since according to doctors themselves, a lot of research recently has been about transplanting wombs into males, and some scientists believe they are not that far off it.

TheGentleOpalMember · 08/04/2025 07:10

Sunflowerhoneybee · 08/04/2025 07:05

Ignorant and heartless.

No, it's a fact. It is wrong to think anyone has a 'right' to have a baby. They are not a toy or a dog. No one is owed or has a right to have a baby. It's ignorant to say they do.

Figtree11 · 08/04/2025 07:13

businessflop25 · 07/04/2025 22:53

I’m guessing you are one of the fortunate one who has been able to have children?

Come back when you know the fucking heartbreak of infertility!

I was going to come on & comment similar to you. As someone who suffers from recurrent miscarriages I find the comments that it’s not a woman’s right to have a baby awful.
I can totally understand the want to carry your own baby.

KimberleyClark · 08/04/2025 07:19

Sunflowerhoneybee · 08/04/2025 07:00

I'm sure infertile people don't care how you feel and will be absolutely delighted at this breakthrough.

I’m infertile. Don’t assume we all feel the same as you.