A woman has become pregnant after having an ovary tissue transplant for the first
time, it has emerged.
The breakthrough gives hope to thousands of cancer patients whose treatment
can make them infertile.
It may also potentially help women who want to give themselves another chance
at motherhood after the menopause.
Doctors from Universite Catholique de Louvain in Brussels are treating the
woman. News of her pregnancy was revealed at the European Fertility Conference
in Berlin.
The baby, a girl, who was conceived naturally, is due at the beginning of
October.
[Full Story]
[Via Chateau
du Meau]
As Meau said this is true reproductive technology.
4 comments
What makes this moral is that the conception occurred naturally and that the ovarian tissue was the woman’s own. Transplants of ovaries and testes from outside donors are not morally permissible according to the Catholic ethics textbooks I have studied.
Yes, this is a miracle. Pray for another one – I have a 32 y/o patient in whom I identified suspicious breast lumps that have since been confirmed as cancer. She has had surgery and will be starting chemo in a few days. She is married (just before the cancer dx) and is praying that she will recover not just her health but also that her fertility will be retained after this treatment. St. Gianna, her is another one for you!
Well, it appears that not everybody thinks that it�s a moral miracle…
Here�s a link where “Ethicist says fertility breakthrough sends wrong message” http://www.cathnews.com/news/407/1.php
I suppose there are women who want to have babies when they’re in their fifties. After all, there are otherwise-sane people who want to throw themselves out of planes and see how long they can continue in free-fall before activating their parachutes. It staggers the imagination, but I suppose there are.
+J.M.J+
I wonder whether it would be moral for a woman who had to have a total hysterectomy (both uterus and ovaries removed) for medical reasons like cancer. The ovary would not be transplanted for the purpose of conceiving, of course, but for the purpose of keeping her from going into premature menopause, if you know what I mean. Ovaries also produce hormones, not just ova.
In Jesu et Maria,
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