The Ethics of Uterine Transplant in Absolute Uterine Factor Infertility: A Review of Uterine Transplant Today from the Lens of the Belmont Report

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Abstract

The miracle of childbirth and childrearing has been apparent since the beginning of time. Most women can birth children, and consequently, it is distressing for those who suffer from infertility. Medicine and research have advanced to provide relief from this type of suffering. Previously, absolute uterine factor infertility, or absence of a uterus, has been untreatable. However, advances in surgical and transplant techniques have made uterus transplantation a possibility for this type of infertility. Many risks are involved for women and children throughout the transplantation, pregnancy, and birthing process. As scientists, medical professionals, and Christians, we must ask, do the ends justify the means? This article will review the promises, perils, science, and current statistics of uterine transplantation from the specific view of research ethics. It will analyze the ethical permissibility or impermissibility of continuing research or approving this type of infertility treatment from the lens of the Belmont Report, with additional attention to the Montreal Criteria, traditional transplant ethics, the epistemology of science, the purpose of medicine, the particular view of Christian bioethics, and biomedical ethics. After reviewing these methods with statistical analysis of current research data, it will be perceptible from all presented views, with special attention to the research lens of the Belmont Report and Christian bioethics, that they do not permit uterine transplantation.

Keywords: AUFI, Biomedical Ethics, Christian Bioethics, Infertility, IVF, Medical Ethics, Transplant Ethics, Reproduction, Uterus, Organ Transplantation.

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