A doctor in India is “very optimistic” that he could carry out a womb transplant that could enable transgender women to carry a baby.
“Womb transplants have been performed all over the world, with more than 70 procedures carried out so far,” an April 2021 report from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists states.
“At least 23 babies have been born as a result, demonstrating that womb transplants can work. While the procedure offers a different option to adoption and surrogacy, it is associated with significant risks, including multiple major surgeries and the need to take medications that help to dampen the immune system to prevent rejection of the womb. To date there has been a 30% risk of a transplant being unsuccessful.”
The first successful transplant of this kind took place in Sweden in 2014, with one in the US taking place two years later.
Now, Dr Narendra Kaushik, a surgeon in New Dehli, India, is hopeful that he can complete the first uterine transplant into a trans woman.
“This is the future. We cannot predict exactly when this will happen but it will happen very soon,” he told The Mirror.
“We have our plans and we are very very optimistic about this.”
Womb transplants are incredibly rare, expensive and are still viewed as an experimental procedure.
Isabella Thalund, a trans woman who flew from Denmark to Delhi to have an operation carried out by Dr Kaushik, explained to the newspaper that “this would definitely be a dream come true” for a lot of trans women.
“As to whether it should be made available well, couples and single women can get help with conceiving,” she added. “I don’t really consider this all that much different.”
When the time comes, the doctor plans to carry the procedure out at his surgery.
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