A heartwarming story has recently emerged regarding the first UK birth following a womb transplant. The parents, Grace and Angus, have named their baby Amy after the donor of the womb, Grace’s sister, Amy. Baby Amy’s middle name is Isabel, after the surgeon who co-led the transplant operation Miss Isabel Quiroga. Grace and baby Amy are both doing well following delivery via caesarean section in February 2025.

Imperial College Healthcare stated that “This joyful moment follows over 25 years of pioneering research and innovation by a collaborative team of UK experts led by Professor Richard Smith, a consultant gynaecological surgeon, and also for over a decade by Miss Isabel Quiroga, a consultant transplant and endocrine surgeon.”

Grace was born with a condition that meant she did not have a functioning womb, so she was unable to carry and give birth to her own baby. However, in 2023, she became the first woman to receive a womb transplant in the UK. Her sister Amy already had two children, and did not want any more. Grace explained that she was given the option of surrogacy or adoption, but carrying her own baby was really important to her.

Grace’s sister Amy donated her own womb as part of the Womb Transplant UK living donor programme. This is a charity funded programme led by specialists from various hospitals around the London and Oxford area. These specialists have supported Grace through her pregnancy and birth. The operations in which Amy donated her womb and the transplant to Grace overlapped and took over 18 hours. As the transplant was successful, Grace underwent IVF treatment and became pregnant on the first attempt. She was closely monitored throughout her pregnancy to ensure that the chances of a healthy baby were as high as possible.

The first baby born as a result of a womb transplant was in Sweden in 2014. Since then, many other countries have attempted womb transplant and over 50 babies have been born as a result. Professor Smith stated that “Amy’s birth will give hope to many of the 15,000 women in the UK of childbearing age who do not have a functioning uterus…we hope we will be able to help more women in the near future who are currently unable to conceive or carry their own baby”.

The transplant sparks an interesting conversation, one which centres around reasons for performing a transplant. These surgeries usually take place to save lives, but this transplant was performed to enhance and create a life. Currently, Womb Transplant UK is assisting the NHS in funding the cost of these transplant operations. Womb Transplant UK is a charity which uses it’s donations to fund two programmes:

• A live donor programme, in which the donors are expected to be close family relatives; and
• A donor research programme, which may include deceased donors in very rare circumstances.

The success of this procedure has been regarded as a significant medical milestone. Health Secretary Wes Streeting acknowledged the achievement, suggesting that such transplants could potentially be offered through the NHS in the future, thereby broadening access to this fertility treatment.