According to the BBC, for the first time in the UK, a baby has been born to a woman with a transplanted uterus.

Grace Davidson was born without a functioning uterus due to Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, in which the uterus is missing or underdeveloped, but the ovaries are functioning. In 2019, she and her husband, Angus, wanted to have children, and her sister, Amy Purdie, wanted to donate her uterus. She and her husband already had two children and did not plan on having more. Though Davidson had been offered adoption and even surrogacy, she wanted to carry her children.

“I have always had a mothering instinct,” she said, “but for years I had been suppressing it because it was too painful to go there.”

Davidson and her husband created “several” embryos in preparation, and after the uterus was successfully transplanted, Davidson gave birth to a daughter who was named Amy — after Davidson’s sister. Davidson plans to have a second child before having the uterus removed.

While the story involves the joyous birth of one child, perhaps a second in the near future, it is yet another story of an adult’s wishes and desires trumping the rights of children, and it calls into question the ethics of organ transplantation for purposes other than saving a life.

The BBC article noted that Davidson wants just two children, but it also said she and her husband have “several embryos” who are currently frozen. Which embryo will be the chosen one, and will that decision be based on perceived “quality” of the embryo? They have a born girl already; will they now choose a male embryo for the second attempt at IVF? What will become of the remaining embryos who were created out of adults’ desires for a child, only to be considered “extra” and now, therefore, ‘unwanted ‘?

Children have a right to life and to not to be kept like a material product on a store shelf until someone decides they are worthy. Treating children like commodities to be discarded or ‘used’ is a violation of their human right to life and can leave children questioning their value.

One woman conceived through IVF explained, “[M]y parents developed the idea that they deserved a baby, and it didn’t matter how much it cost, how many times it took, or how many died in the process. They deserved a child. … And since they deserved a child, I was their property to be controlled, not a person or a gift to be treasured.”

READ: Italian Prime Minister slams surrogacy: ‘Uterus renting’ is an ‘inhuman practice’

As for the ethics of uterus transplantation, such a surgery is non-life-saving. It doesn’t create life either, as the article claims, and can has the potential to cause health problems where none existed. It can also be dangerous for the baby.

UT Southwestern Medical Center explained in 2019 why it did not at that time recommend uterine transplant, saying it “carries considerable risks that outweigh its potential benefits.”

“The high-risk pregnancy doctors in our practice do not recommend uterine transplantation. We strongly believe that women can become mothers in a variety of ways, and uterine transplantation is not worth the risks,” said Dr. Robyn Horsager-Boehrer.

Organ transplantation requires that the patient take immunosuppressive drugs to prevent the body from attacking the new organ. The side effects are worth the risk when the person’s life is at stake without the transplant, but a uterus transplant is completely elective; no one’s life is on the line.

The immunosuppressive drugs have the potential to cause low birth weight, premature birth, and an increased risk of birth defects in the baby. Since taking these drugs long term is not advised due to the risks, including cancer, the patient will then later require a hysterectomy to have the uterus removed.

UT Southwestern Medical Center concluded, “While the idea of carrying one’s own baby has been romanticized by society as the only ‘real’ route to motherhood, that logic is harmful to women.”

According to the BBC, for the first time in the UK, a baby has been born to a woman with a transplanted uterus.

Grace Davidson was born without a functioning uterus due to Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, in which the uterus is missing or underdeveloped, but the ovaries are functioning. In 2019, she and her husband, Angus, wanted to have children, and her sister, Amy Purdie, wanted to donate her uterus. She and her husband already had two children and did not plan on having more. Though Davidson had been offered adoption and even surrogacy, she wanted to carry her children.

“I have always had a mothering instinct,” she said, “but for years I had been suppressing it because it was too painful to go there.”

Davidson and her husband created “several” embryos in preparation, and after the uterus was successfully transplanted, Davidson gave birth to a daughter who was named Amy — after Davidson’s sister. Davidson plans to have a second child before having the uterus removed.

While the story involves the joyous birth of one child, perhaps a second in the near future, it is yet another story of an adult’s wishes and desires trumping the rights of children, and it calls into question the ethics of organ transplantation for purposes other than saving a life.

The BBC article noted that Davidson wants just two children, but it also said she and her husband have “several embryos” who are currently frozen. Which embryo will be the chosen one, and will that decision be based on perceived “quality” of the embryo? They have a born girl already; will they now choose a male embryo for the second attempt at IVF? What will become of the remaining embryos who were created out of adults’ desires for a child, only to be considered “extra” and now, therefore, ‘unwanted ‘?

Children have a right to life and to not to be kept like a material product on a store shelf until someone decides they are worthy. Treating children like commodities to be discarded or ‘used’ is a violation of their human right to life and can leave children questioning their value.

One woman conceived through IVF explained, “[M]y parents developed the idea that they deserved a baby, and it didn’t matter how much it cost, how many times it took, or how many died in the process. They deserved a child. … And since they deserved a child, I was their property to be controlled, not a person or a gift to be treasured.”

READ: Italian Prime Minister slams surrogacy: ‘Uterus renting’ is an ‘inhuman practice’

As for the ethics of uterus transplantation, such a surgery is non-life-saving. It doesn’t create life either, as the article claims, and can has the potential to cause health problems where none existed. It can also be dangerous for the baby.

UT Southwestern Medical Center explained in 2019 why it did not at that time recommend uterine transplant, saying it “carries considerable risks that outweigh its potential benefits.”

“The high-risk pregnancy doctors in our practice do not recommend uterine transplantation. We strongly believe that women can become mothers in a variety of ways, and uterine transplantation is not worth the risks,” said Dr. Robyn Horsager-Boehrer.

Organ transplantation requires that the patient take immunosuppressive drugs to prevent the body from attacking the new organ. The side effects are worth the risk when the person’s life is at stake without the transplant, but a uterus transplant is completely elective; no one’s life is on the line.

The immunosuppressive drugs have the potential to cause low birth weight, premature birth, and an increased risk of birth defects in the baby. Since taking these drugs long term is not advised due to the risks, including cancer, the patient will then later require a hysterectomy to have the uterus removed.

UT Southwestern Medical Center concluded, “While the idea of carrying one’s own baby has been romanticized by society as the only ‘real’ route to motherhood, that logic is harmful to women.”