Melinda Arnold, after many years of wanting to be a mother, is set to receive a transplant of her mother’s womb.

Melinda Arnold, after many years of wanting to be a mother, is set to receive a transplant of her mother’s womb. This is the first operation of its kind in Australia. Mrs Arnold was born without a womb but with ovaries that produce eggs, and she and her husband unsuccessfully tried to use her mother, Denise Allen, as a surrogate. Attempts at adoption also failed. 

Doctors led by Mats Brannstrom of the Gothenburg University in Sweden offered to perform the surgery. Brannstrom says most areas of fertility can be treated, but not women irreversibly infertile due to a missing womb. He believes transplants are a solution. “Since the final aim is to accomplish motherhood, success should be measured by full-term pregnancies that result in healthy offspring,” he said. 

One journalist, who in July reported on a similar story, asked if “a mother’s love was clouding judgment and common sense” in her desire to give her womb to her daughter. However, that journalist did not consider the ethical questions underlying this new story. Nor did others. ~ Sunday Telegraph, Oct 16; Herald Sun, Jul 29

Daughter will receive transplant of her mother’s womb
Jared Yee
bioethics
organ donation
organ transplants

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