Baby girl becomes first child in UK to be born from womb transplant

Womb transplantation is on the way to becoming an acceptable, life-giving procedure

The birth of Amy Isabel is not just a first for the UK, but an important step towards womb transplantation becoming an established medical procedure.

It was little more than a decade ago that the world’s first baby was born following a womb transplant in Sweden.

And not without eyebrows being raised by some in the world of medical ethics.

Not all womb transplants, whether from a living relative or from a deceased donor, are successful. And not all result in successful or uncomplicated pregnancies.

But the surgical team behind this UK success have achieved a one-for-one: a healthy baby born from the first womb transplant ever performed here.

Amy Isabel joins an estimated 50 other babies and children worldwide now born via a womb transplant. And she won’t be the last.

Around 100 women in at least 10 countries have undergone the procedure – three transplants have taken place in the UK since Amy’s mother became the first in 2023.

A study of 33 womb transplants in the US found 74% of the transplants remained healthy after a year and 80% of those resulted in a successful birth.

But a womb transplant is unlikely to ever become “routine”.

While the number of eligible women – those lacking a functioning uterus but having healthy ovaries – might number in the low thousands in a country the size of the UK, not all would meet the strict medical criteria needed to maximise the chance of a successful transplant and subsequent birth. And not all might choose it.

A successful birth following a womb transplant involves three major operations. The first to receive the transplanted womb, a caesarean section to deliver the baby, then a hysterectomy to remove the womb once the recipient mother decides to have no more children.

Given a womb transplant isn’t “life-saving”, ethics guidelines require the procedure to be temporary. The long-term risks of organ rejection, and the drugs needed to prevent it, are considered too great once the womb has served its miraculous function.

Some medical ethicists still question the procedure as a whole, arguing it is unnecessarily risky for both the mother and baby, especially if babies are born seriously pre-term and at low birth weight.

However, this latest success, and the increasing number of healthy babies born via the procedure worldwide may change that.

Womb transplantation is on the way to becoming an acceptable, life-giving procedure for women who previously had no hope of carrying a baby of their own.