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Doctors in Cleveland, Ohio have stated that they are close to offering a controversial treatment for women who were born without a uterus or who were forced to have theirs removed: namely, a temporary uterus transplant.
This treatment differs from other medical transplant procedures in that, unlike heart or kidney transplants, uterine transplant surgery is not needed for candidates to stay alive. Instead, it would be available for women who are unable to become pregnant, but choose not to adopt or use surrogate mothers for personal, cultural, or religious reasons. These women would still not be able to become pregnant by natural means because the transplanted uterus would not be connected to their ovaries with their fallopian tubes—instead, they would be impregnated via in-vitro fertilization.
Pregnancies made possible by this technology would be risky to both the mother and fetus, due to the exposure of both to strong anti-organ-rejection drugs as well as the general dangers of organ transplant. So far, the only country in which women have successfully undergone the procedure is Sweden, where 9 women have received donated uteruses, and four have successfully given birth.
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