Uterus Transplant
Link to the story here.
This was on the front page of my newspaper today, and it gave me the jibblies. Presumably the transplant would happen so that a woman could give birth, then the uterus would be removed after birth so she would "not have to continue taking anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life."
My concern is what those anti-rejection drugs might do to the fetus, nevermind the delicacy of a transplanted organ going through the traumas of gestation. Thus far the procedure has only produced offspring when performed on rats. A human uterus transplant was performed in Saudi Arabia, but the organ was removed after problems with blood clotting.
Apparently the unnamed New York hospitals ethics committee has approved the (not yet perfected) procedure. I can't understand how they could find this ethically correct in any way, from the health of the parties involved, to the expense of the procedure, to the numbers of unparented children in the world.
"Why can't people adopt?" Officemate said when I told her about the procedure. (She loves surgery, ethics, and is, ironically, the Women's Studies editor.)
"Because most people don't meet the qualifications for being good parents,"
I said.
This was on the front page of my newspaper today, and it gave me the jibblies. Presumably the transplant would happen so that a woman could give birth, then the uterus would be removed after birth so she would "not have to continue taking anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life."
My concern is what those anti-rejection drugs might do to the fetus, nevermind the delicacy of a transplanted organ going through the traumas of gestation. Thus far the procedure has only produced offspring when performed on rats. A human uterus transplant was performed in Saudi Arabia, but the organ was removed after problems with blood clotting.
Apparently the unnamed New York hospitals ethics committee has approved the (not yet perfected) procedure. I can't understand how they could find this ethically correct in any way, from the health of the parties involved, to the expense of the procedure, to the numbers of unparented children in the world.
"Why can't people adopt?" Officemate said when I told her about the procedure. (She loves surgery, ethics, and is, ironically, the Women's Studies editor.)
"Because most people don't meet the qualifications for being good parents,"
I said.