“For many couples, childlessness is a disaster. Infertility is a difficult thing to treat for these women. Surrogacy is an option but it does not answer the deep desire that women have to carry their own baby. For a woman to carry her own baby – that has to be a wonderful thing.”
Before the trial starts, embryos will be created and frozen using each woman’s eggs and sperm from her partner. They will then undergo a six-hour operation to receive a womb from a donor who is classed as brain dead but who has been kept alive.
After 12 months on immunosuppressant drugs and close monitoring, each woman will be implanted with one of her embryos, with the hope of achieving a successful pregnancy. If the pregnancy is successful, the baby will be delivered by section. This is according to the medical team to prevent the donor womb suffering the trauma of labour.
Six months after giving birth, each woman can try for another child, or the womb will be removed. That would minimize the risk of keeping women on immunosuppressant medication for the rest of their lives.
