Womb Transplants Could Allow Transgender Woman The Chance To Have Babies

Transgender women may soon be able to have babies, according to one of the world's leading experts in reproductive science.

Dr Richard Paulson, President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said that there is the possibility for a womb to be donated and then included as part of gender reassignment surgery, leading to the potential of pregnancy,The Telegraph reports.

Credit: PA

"You could do it tomorrow," Dr Paulson told the paper. "There would be additional challenges, but I don't see any obvious problem that would preclude it. I personally suspect there are going to be trans women who are going to want to have a uterus and will likely get the transplant."

Dr Paulson went on to add that there was no anatomical reason why a womb could not be added to a body that was born male, despite the differences in shape between male and female pelvises.

NHS experts have previously warned that a pregnancy hosted in the body of a mother born as a man might be unethical if it was thought that the baby would have a better chance of surviving in a surrogate mother.

A three-day-old embryo. Credit: PA

Julian Savulescu, an Oxford University philosopher and specialist in bioethics, said: "Uterine transplantation represents a real risk to the fetus, and future child.

"We ought to avoid exposing fetuses and future children to unnecessary significant risks. Although technically possible to perform the procedure, you would also need to be very confident the uterus would function normally during pregnancy. Uterine rupture could cause the death or permanent disablement of the fetus."

Womb transplants have been able to give women who have no womb the chance to give birth. Credit: PA

Professor Savulescu also added that he doesn't believe public money should not be used to pay for womb transplants for those not born as women.

There are 7,000 women born every year in the UK without a womb, while others lose theirs due to disease. Womb transplants involve incredibly complex and lengthy surgery and have to date only been attempted on a small sample size of women.

Five babies have been successfully born to women who have undergone womb transplants in Sweden, according to The Telegraph.

Source: The Telegraph

Topics: Pregnancy, UK News, Interesting, transgender

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

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