Woman With First Womb Transplant Ends Pregnancy, Baby Had No Heartbeat

Bioethics   |   Rebecca Taylor   |   May 19, 2013   |   1:03PM   |   Washington, DC

This is so incredibly sad for so many reasons. There is really nothing else to say. (I have already expressed my concerns about uterine transplants here.)

From the UK’s Daily Mail:

A woman who was the first to have a successful womb transplant from a dead donor has had her pregnancy terminated after the embryo showed no heartbeat, doctors in Turkey have said.

Derya Sert, 22, who was born without a womb, had been receiving in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment after the transplant in August 2011.

Her pregnancy was announced in April.

But in a statement released today by Akdeniz University Hospital in Turkey’s Mediterranean city of Antalya, it read: ‘Derya Sert’s pregnancy was terminated after her end of eight weeks examination showed no embryo heartbeat.

‘The general health status of the patient is fine.

‘IVF will be continued when she is ready, in appropriate conditions.’

I mourn the loss of this little one. Eternal rest grant unto him or her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him or her. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.