First baby born following womb transplant in UK

Amy Isabel has become the first UK baby born following a womb transplant.

Her mother, Grace Davidson, received her sister's donated womb (also known as a uterus) in 2023 – the UK's first successful womb transplant (see BioNews 1204 and 1248). The landmark procedure was led jointly by surgeons Professor J Richard Smith and Isabel Quiroga. Together, they lead the charity Womb Transplant UK, which funded the sisters' surgeries.

'This is the culmination of over 25 years of research, with huge contributions from so many talented people,' said Professor Smith from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London.

Amy was born on 27 February 2025 at Queen Charlotte's Hospital, London. Her father Angus Davidson said it was an 'absolute no-brainer' to name her after her aunt Amy Purdie, who had her uterus removed and transplanted into her sister during a 17-hour procedure at Churchill Hospital, Oxford. Amy's middle name, Isabel, is a tribute to transplant surgeon Quiroga.

'Transplants are usually carried out in order to save a life. With this transplant we have been able to enhance a life, and now to create a life,' said Quiroga, consultant transplant and endocrine surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Around 15,000 women in the UK have uterine factor infertility, where the uterus is absent or non-viable due to congenital or acquired conditions (for example, cancer-related hysterectomies). For those who wish to have children, womb transplantation offers an alternative to surrogacy or adoption. Around 135 womb transplants have been performed worldwide, resulting in around 65 births. The first baby born to a womb transplant recipient was Vincent Stenberg in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2014 (see BioNews 738, 775 and 1266).

Grace Davidson was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a condition in which the uterus never fully develops. Since her surgery, she has had to take daily immunosuppressants to prevent rejection of her transplanted uterus. The surgeons expect the uterus to last five years, during which it could potentially enable a second pregnancy, before needs to be removed. They have advised against seeking to increase this five-year span, in part due to health risks associated with long-term immunosuppression.

'It has been little more than a decade since the world's first ever live birth following a womb transplant, and now the UK has its own womb transplant success story,' said Sarah Norcross, director of PET (the Progress Educational Trust). 'This news will give hope to other women who wish to carry a pregnancy, but who have no uterus of their own.'

Four womb transplants have been performed by the team at Womb Transplant UK. They aim to carry out 15 such transplants as part of their research programme, which has attracted interest from hundreds of women. The programme's success also raises the possibility of pregnancy for trans women. However, Professor Smith told the Independent that 'There are many, many years worth of research in the future before that could ever become possible.'

'As the UK sees more of these transplants it will become increasingly important to discuss NHS funding priorities and access policies,' said Dr Laura O'Donovan, lecturer in law at the University of Sheffield. 'Should uterus transplants be publicly funded, and who should be able to access them? These are difficult decisions that NHS commissioners will need to make in the context of scarce resources and the current IVF postcode lottery, which has already resulted in unequal access to fertility treatment,' (see BioNews 1190a, 1190b, 1224 and 1247).