Male transsexuals should be given womb transplants so they can have children, senior NHS doctors have said.
Gynaecologists claim that it could be possible to implant a donor womb into a man, with one saying it could happen in “maybe a decade”.
And it has been suggested that such operations should be paid for with taxpayers’ money.
Impinging on motherhood
The Mail on Sunday has highlighted calls for the controversial procedure, led by law lecturer Dr Amel Alghrani of Liverpool University, and backed by consultant gynaecologist Dr Arianna D’Angelo and clinical lecturer in obstetrics and gynaecology Dr Francoise Shelfield.
Dr Alghrani predicts that a successful programme could also lead to non-transsexual men demanding wombs, in order to experience the “joys of pregnancy”.
The idea was rubbished by women’s campaigners, who say it ‘impinges on the meaning of motherhood’.
‘Lifestyle choice’
Laura Perrins, co-founder of the Conservative Woman, said: “Most taxpayers will not think this is a good use of resources. It raises profound ethical and moral issues that will have an impact on women’s rights.”
She was joined by feminist campaigner Julie Bindel, who said people “born male who are dosed with female hormones and undergo cosmetic surgery in order to present as female will never be women”.
“This procedure suggests that you can create a woman in a test tube or through a surgeon’s knife.”
“Let’s be clear: this is a lifestyle choice, not a health issue”, she added.
Pregnancy guidance
Earlier this year, doctors across the UK were told not to call pregnant women “expectant mothers”, in case they offend transsexual people.
Official guidance, issued by the British Medical Association, instructed staff to use the term “pregnant people” instead.
At the time, columnist Sarah Vine spoke out, saying the BMA guidance “suggests the process of becoming a mother is little more than a social construct, a mere cultural convention that can be overturned on a whim.
“And that being a woman, with all this entails, is something that can be reduced to a lifestyle choice.”