World unique: lesbian partners 'shared pregnancy' in new method - both carried one child in the womb
Parenting of same-sex couples is one of the issues that are still considered very controversial in many countries (the Czech Republic excluded). While in some parts of the world, gay and lesbian couples can not only adopt children but also use surrogate mothers, in other parts they cannot yet legalise their cohabitation. Anyway, science is moving forward, and so experts from the Swiss technology company Anecova performed a completely unique procedure at a London clinic - after fertilisation, the eggs were put back into thethe womb of the expectant mother - the donor (which normally happens in vitro in a test tube) and then these eggs were transferred to the uterus of the other mother... They both carried their offspring in the uterus.
According to Kamal Ahuja, manager and chief scientist of the London Women's Clinic, which has been a pioneer in fertility treatment since 1985, this is a completely unique case. "It gives us great pleasure to announce the world's first birth under the concept of shared motherhood, using pioneering in vivo natural fertilisation technology," said Ahuja. According to Martin Velasco, founder of the clinic, the procedure has the potential to increase the value of IVF programs, primarily because it increases the emotional value to the couple.
"Of course, today there are lesbian couples who choose to have their own offspring - but then that means one of the women takes on all the burdens involved - not infrequently from artificial insemination to pregnancy to childbirth. But this method has brought us very close together and we both have a much closer bond with our son Otis," said one of the partners.
The concept of shared motherhood, which is popular among lesbian partners, used to involve taking one woman's eggs, fertilizing them in vitro and then implanting them in the other woman's uterus, who carried and delivered the offspring. While the first woman is the biological mother of the child, the second woman gives life to it - thus enhancing the experience of motherhood for both women. The new method then allows the fertilised egg to go through a process of incubation directly in the woman's body. The foetus is then practically carried in the body of both women.
