Uterus Transplants are Reinforcing Patriarchal Notions of ‘Biological Motherhood’

Uterus transplants raise several ethical concerns drawing from the health risk posed to women, especially since the surgery is not meant to treat a life threatening condition.

Recent news on uterus transplant in India takes the infertility industry to a new level. The overarching rationale behind uterus transplant is that infertile women can ‘benefit’ from this and bear their own biological children.

The first such scientifically reported successful transplant was conducted in Sweden in 2013 where a 36-year-old, who was born without a uterus, received a donated womb from her mother. She gave birth to a baby boy using a transplanted womb in 2014. According to recent media reports, a private fertility clinic in Bengaluru has received permission from the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for uterus transplants for two women and the procedure will be undertaken as a research project. The minimum experience necessary for a clinical team to carry out this procedure, as per the Human Organ Transplant Act, is not available in India and hence the involvement of Swedish doctors, who pioneered the procedure, is being...