A surgeon plans to attempt the first womb transplant to a transgender woman born biologically male to give her the ability to carry a child. Considered experimental, if successful, it will be the world’s first.
Surgeon to attempt the world’s first womb transplant on a transgender woman
Using the organs from a dead donor, a surgeon plans to attempt the world’s first transplant of a womb into a woman who was biologically born a male.
If successful, it will give the transgender woman the ability to carry a child.
Such a procedure is experimental, and, to date, such an operation has never been successfully performed, Unilad reported.
While such an operation would allow a transgender woman to become carry a child, the act of becoming pregnant would still require medical intervention. The uterus cannot be connected to the fallopian tubes. Therefore, in vitro fertilization (IVF) would theoretically make pregnancy possible.
“There would be additional challenges, but I don’t see any obvious problem that would preclude it,” Dr. Paulson, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said in 2017. “I think it would be possible.”
Surgeon Christopher Inglefield, founder of the London Transgender Clinic, previously claimed the procedure is “essentially identical” to that of “cis-women,” meaning females born in that gender.
Life-risking procedure
Patients assume significant risk in undergoing the procedure, which includes the possibility of death.
If successful, the womb transplant surgery will be the world’s first.
It is not the first time a surgeon has attempted to implant the uterus. However, only one previous case of a trans woman undergoing a uterus transplant received wide documentation. Unfortunately, the patient died a month later due to complications.
“Womb transplants have already been carried out in Denmark, though from one woman to another woman – never to a man,” said Professor Simon Fishel, a fertility expert from the UK who was also involved in the research that led to the first “test-tube baby” in 1978.
“There’ll definitely be a huge debate, and I don’t imagine the surgery would be offered in places like the US, for example,” says Professor Fishel. “But in Asian countries, where regulation isn’t as heavy – it could definitely happen there.”
“Ethics is a complex issue because, in the end, you’re talking about ‘whose ethics?'” Prof. Fishel added. “Ethics is quite subjective. It might be religious, etc.”
Doctor optimistic of successful outcome
Dr. Narendra Kaushik, a surgeon in New Delhi, will head up the procedure.
“Every transgender woman wants to be as female as possible,” Dr. Kaushik told The Mirror. “And that includes being a mother. The way towards this is with a uterine transplant, the same as a kidney or any other transplant.”
“This is the future,” Dr. Kaushik continued. “We cannot predict exactly when this will happen but it will happen very soon.”
“We have our plans, and we are very, very optimistic about this,” Dr. Kaushik added.
