Assisted reproductive technologies are now pervasive in Australia, with around 1 in 20 babies born through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or other technologies. IVF has been used to help people make families since 1978. However, for women without a functioning uterus, the options were limited to adoption or surrogacy until relatively recently. In 2014 a Swedish team announced the first live birth of a baby born following uterus transplantation (UTx). Since then, teams around the world have set up UTx programs, including in Sydney. Alongside the clinical research, ethicists have engaged in vigorous debate about the rights and wrongs of UTx.

Join host Distinguished Professor Wendy Rogers and guest Associate Professor Mianna Lotz as they discuss the ethics of uterus transplantation, drawing on Mianna’s experiences as an ethical adviser to the first uterus transplantation trial in Australia.

This podcast discusses one of Mianna’s key papers on the topic: Lotz, M. (2021). Public funding of uterus transplantation: Deepening the socio-moral critique. Bioethics 35: 664-671. DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12914

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