Saturday, 20 August 2022
Meet the JournalistsPremiumAucklandWellingtonCanterbury/South Island
CrimePoliticsHealthEducationEnvironment and ClimateNZ Herald FocusData journalismKāhu, Māori ContentPropertyWeather
Small BusinessOpinionPersonal FinanceEconomyBusiness TravelCapital Markets
Politics
Premium SportRugbyCricketRacingNetballBoxingLeagueFootballSuper RugbyAthleticsBasketballMotorsportTennisCyclingGolfAmerican SportsHockeyUFC
NZH Local FocusThe Northern AdvocateThe Northland AgeThe AucklanderWaikato HeraldBay of Plenty TimesHawke's Bay TodayRotorua Daily PostWhanganui ChronicleStratford PressManawatu GuardianKapiti NewsHorowhenua ChronicleTe Awamutu Courier
Covid-19
Te Rito
Te Rito
OneRoof PropertyCommercial Property
Open JusticeVideoPodcastsTechnologyWorldOpinion
SpyTVMoviesBooksMusicCultureSideswipeCompetitions
Fashion & BeautyFood & DrinkRoyalsRelationshipsWellbeingPets & AnimalsVivaCanvasEat WellCompetitionsRestaurants & Menus
New Zealand TravelAustralia TravelInternational Travel
Our Green FutureRuralOneRoof Property
Career AdviceCorporate News
Driven MotoringPhotos
SudokuCodecrackerCrosswordsWordsearchDaily quizzes
Classifieds
KaitaiaWhangareiDargavilleAucklandThamesTaurangaHamiltonWhakataneRotoruaTokoroaTe KuitiTaumarunuiTaupoGisborneNew PlymouthNapierHastingsDannevirkeWhanganuiPalmerston NorthLevinParaparaumuMastertonWellingtonMotuekaNelsonBlenheimWestportReeftonKaikouraGreymouthHokitikaChristchurchAshburtonTimaruWanakaOamaruQueenstownDunedinGoreInvercargill
NZ HeraldThe Northern AdvocateThe Northland AgeThe AucklanderWaikato HeraldBay Of Plenty TimesRotorua Daily PostHawke's Bay TodayWhanganui ChronicleThe Stratford PressManawatu GuardianKapiti NewsHorowhenua ChronicleTe Awamutu CourierVivaEat WellOneRoofDriven MotoringThe CountryPhoto SalesNZ Herald InsightsWatchMeGrabOneiHeart RadioRestaurant Hub

Advertisement

Advertise with NZME.
Lifestyle

Men could 'get pregnant tomorrow' with womb transplants

4 Nov, 2017 08:46 PM3 minutes to read
Doctors in Sweden have successfully delivered a baby from a surgically transplanted womb. AP

Doctors in Sweden have successfully delivered a baby from a surgically transplanted womb. AP

Daily Mail
By Colin Fernandez for Daily Mail

Men could become pregnant "tomorrow" thanks to advances in womb transplantation, according to a leading fertility expert.

The success of womb transplants into women has paved the way for a similar operation being carried out on people born male, reports The Daily Mail.

Dr Richard Paulson said that now wombs have been successfully transplanted into women born without them, 'trans women' - people born biologically male but who have had sex change surgery - will also want a womb transplant.

This would allow them to carry a baby - and there was no scientific reason why it would not happen, he added.

Advertisement

Advertise with NZME.

In recent months, there have been reports of 'trans men' having babies - women who have had sex change operations to become male, but still have functioning wombs.

Dr Paulson, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, made his controversial prediction at the society's annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

When asked whether men having babies was "pie in the sky", he said: "You are talking about trans women. Someone who started out as a man, who became a woman.

"There would be additional challenges, but I don't see any obvious problem that would preclude it. I think it would be possible."

Asked when someone who was born male could be fitted with a uterus, Dr Paulson said: "They could do it tomorrow."

He added, however: "It's still a very complicated procedure. It's a huge team, it's not something somebody can do in a community hospital and just get it done."

Related articles

Lifestyle

Surrogate forced to fight custody of her son

28 Oct 09:51 PM
Lifestyle

Woman gives birth without knowing she was pregnant

01 Nov 07:49 PM
Lifestyle

Woman gives birth after thinking it was kidney stones

03 Nov 08:18 AM
New Zealand

Letters reveal tensions at DHB

05 Nov 04:00 PM

Dr Paulson explained that one problem is that the male pelvis would not allow a baby to pass through it because it is too narrow, so a man would have to give birth by caesarean section.

But there was room inside a man to hold a womb. Dr Paulson said hormones might have to be given to replicate the changes that go on while a woman is pregnant.

Advertisement

Advertise with NZME.

Procuring a uterus would be necessary - either from a living donor or from a brain-dead donor - a complicated, ten-hour operation.

Once the uterus has been transplanted, an IVF embryo would have to be implanted. Dr Paulson said the field of 'trans medicine' has now 'reached the mainstream', adding: "I suspect there are going to be trans women who want to have a uterus and will likely get the transplant."

Womb transplant is still very much an experimental procedure.

The first that resulted in a live birth took place in 2014, carried out by Dr Mats Brannstrom, of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. The first British attempt at a womb transplant is expected to be carried out next year - on a woman - by Dr Richard Smith of Imperial College London.

In the UK it would be illegal for an IVF clinic to create an embryo for the purpose of implanting it in a man under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.

An international agreement, The Montreal Protocol, also stipulates that womb transplants should be carried out only in biological women.

Advertisement

Advertise with NZME.

Julian Savulescu, professor of practical ethics at Oxford University, said womb transplantation represents a 'significant' risk to the foetus and future child.

While there might be a "psychological benefit" to the mother of carrying her own pregnancy, this had to be "weighed against any psychological harm to the child being born in this atypical way".

Advertisement

Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

ROYALS

'Epic misjudgement': Inside Meghan Markle's disastrous attempt to edit Vogue

19 Aug 05:00 PM
Premium
Lifestyle

Diana Wichtel: A family tree with missing branches - it's not uncommon

19 Aug 05:00 PM
Lifestyle

MP Nicola Willis as you've never seen her: 'We'll survive anything'

19 Aug 05:00 PM
New Zealand

Safety concerns after climbing wall fall shatters feet and spine

19 Aug 05:00 PM
Premium
New Zealand

Simon Wilson: The pocket parklets of London

19 Aug 05:00 PM

Most Popular

Premium
Insider-trading accused distances himself from Eric Watson
Business

Insider-trading accused distances himself from Eric Watson

19 Aug 05:00 PM
Shamubeel Eaqub on 'stupid' inflation debate and how he'd fix poverty
Business

Shamubeel Eaqub on 'stupid' inflation debate and how he'd fix poverty

19 Aug 05:00 PM
Premium
Kingpin bowled: Inside the downfall of a drug lord
New Zealand|Crime

Kingpin bowled: Inside the downfall of a drug lord

19 Aug 05:00 PM

Advertisement

Advertise with NZME.
About NZMEHelp & SupportContact UsSubscribe to NZ HeraldHouse Rules
Manage Your Print SubscriptionNZ Herald E-EditionAdvertise with NZMEBook Your AdPrivacy Policy
Terms of UseCompetition Terms & ConditionsSubscriptions Terms & Conditions
© Copyright 2022 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP