Baby born from dead donor womb transplant in UK first

[IwantToRetire]

Commisseration and support for the family of the woman who died, and happy for the new mother.

But feel sort of uneasy about this.

https://news.sky.com/story/simply-a-miracle-baby-boy-born-from-dead-donor-womb-transplant-in-uk-first-13511093

Now that is a horrific thought if he's talking about putting wombs (& the next step ovaries) in men.

I really think that would be a complete mind fuck to a child.

And I'm 100% ok with a womb being transplanted into a woman.

But he isn’t!!!

they’re talking about women with uterine factor infertility.

I don’t have an issue with it so long as it’s for genuine medical need like this woman’s condition

I have more of an issue with use of donor eggs and sperm and surrogacy than this

Live donors, is it much different to donating a kidney, particularly as its likely to be within family close biological match?

Probably better donating a womb to a daughter than to risk being a surrogate in your 50s or 60s.

Me too.

Thanks for clearing that up. I'm 100% ok with them going into women.

I'd absolutely hate to see the science being abused and wombs being put into men.

My autocorrect keeps correcting to bombs 💣

The donor herself may not have wanted this to happen. If this is all about feels.

Donation must be informed and consented to, or we are in very risky territory.

So we have assisted dying. And we have non consensual organ harvesting.

The issues should be plain to see.

But as with so many issues, we can expect a blizzard of shaming and anger aimed at anyone who questions the Good True and Progressive narrative.

It's likely to be an option only for a very small number of people since many women have their wombs removed later in life due to endometrial cancer, the 4th commonest cancer in women. Not many women are going to want to donate as a living donor unless they can still do this with a post menopausal womb.

I have a few concerns about the ethics with living donors but if my womb was still useful after death they could have it. Some transplants make me feel off and I wouldnt want to receive or donate but not this one.

I find it astonishing how the feels can be ao easily used to manipulate people.

We've been told that men buying babies is heartwarming.

It depends on how they are harvesting the wombs - from whom, why they are donating them or even why they are having healthy wombs removed, whether scouting/money is involved to entice poor women to donate them or whether it is upon death of the donor etc?

I foresee this being just as ethically problematic as surrogacy. Having children isn’t a right - and if a person truly, altruistically, wants to parent there are many routes to fostering and adoption.

We do not have non consensual organ harvesting.

All.organs and tissue are considered 'donated' unless you specifically opt out.

Consent is assumed.

https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/uk-laws/organ-donation-law-in-england/

'Now that the law has changed, it will be considered that you agree to become an organ donor when you die'

Actually this is England, I assume Scotland will want to do better and pass legislation for assumed consent for living donors.

(Edit - this is a joke)

Prof Smith, who is the clinical lead of Womb Transplant UK, has been quoted as saying:

“Probably, we know 5,000 women in the UK are born with no womb, but we also know there’s probably about 15,000 women of reproductive age who would potentially like to have a womb”

Both the living and deceased programmes have got capacity for expansion,” he said. “We’re constrained mainly by cash.”

The wording is ambiguous. He’s already mentioned the 5,000 women born with no womb, so who are these 15,000 women who’d potentially like to have a womb? Are they women who have had to have their wombs removed? If so why not say that.

Potentially and cash are both doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

I hope other women can be helped to become mothers through this process.

I also have concerns that this beautiful family and their lovely baby are being presented to soften us all up for the next stage, however many years down the line that may be. The wording on the Womb Transplant UK website reads as never say never.

Organ Donation Scotland:

'If you do not register a donation decision, it will be considered that you agree to donate certain organs and tissue for transplantation in the event of your death'

I’m very much in favour of organ donation (though oppose presumed consent) and still don’t know how I feel about this.

Thats the most horrific potential future I've heard in a long time.
The thought of children being grown in a lab with no mother (which btw they bond to in untrine) and the harvesting of women's eggs for this nightmare scenario to be used for anyone who wants a baby (remember denighing gay and/or single men would be illegal discrimination) is just so wrong that I can't believe a woman would say this is a good thing, this is insutionlised surrogacy on steroids and should never be allowed to happen.

Yes. By not acting, you consent.

We need a debate around this. I see it as a philosophical issue, which doesn't mean only high-falutin' trained philosophers need be involved, but rather all of us should be, as there are so many questions to contemplate.

Why do some of us have a strong negative reaction to it, is it 'Frankenstein surgery' & if so, why if (say) corneal implants are not? Do women feel this way more than men? There is, undeniably, an extra element to this that hasn't so far applied to other organ transplants - a human baby. Are there consequences to mother and/or baby as a consequence of immunosuppressant drugs?

Lots of issues to discuss which should in no way detract from any happiness we feel for this couple who would otherwise have been childless. Congratulations to them.

It’s just an organ. It’s like any other. I believe strongly in organ donation - if some childless woman who is desperate enough to have children she is willing to put herself through a serious surgery wants my womb if I’m dead then she can have it. I’m very very sure that the doctors performing this know far more about organ donation than I do.

Yes. Because doctors have never done anything ethically questionable to women in the name of science or convenience. /s

If you're in favour of it, that's fine, but don't blindly place your trust in doctors to do the right thing.

My thoughts exactly but I've just realised which board we are on so don't go expecting a rational response.