Do transgender women (ie, natal males) have a right to experience pregnancy? Two Italian doctors from the University of Rome Sapienza argue in Acta Biomedica that technology is advancing so fast that we need to confront this question.

At the moment uterine transplants (UTx) are rare and often unsuccessful. But as surgeons improve their techniques, it may be possible for a natal male to give birth. “Such an option will mark a point where the set of moral and ethical precepts which we espouse could soon become obsolete,” they write.

Surveys show, they claim, that transwomen believe that “having a transplanted, functioning uterus and vagina would benefit their sex life and perceived sense of femininity, improving quality of life overall.”

The reasoning is simple: if surgery is ethically necessary to alleviate gender dysphoria, UTx must be ethical as well:

it is not unreasonable to assume that in transgender women, UTx may go a long way towards the achievement of reproductive aspirations, benefit quality of life overall, and be effective in allaying dysphoric symptoms … if UTx becomes mainstream, safe and effective for biological women with [absolute uterine factor infertility], would there be any morally tenable grounds as to why transgender women should be denied such an opportunity for gestation?

Bioethics writer Wesley J. Smith noted in the National Review that the authors fail to mention anything about the welfare of the child.

Imagine the potential problems of having a biological male gestate, with the requirements of necessary hormones and other essential mother contributions to healthy gestation mostly provided artificially. Why, it’s as if the issue does not exist.