Womb Transplant UK cannot and will not be involved research into uterine transplantation for women who were not assigned female at birth, for the foreseeable future. 

We have legally binding permissions for two programmes of operations for women assigned female at birth, the first for five uterine transplants where the donor is a living relation of the recipient and the second, a clinical trial of ten operations, where the donor is deceased and not related to the recipient. All patients were assigned female at birth and suffer from absolute uterine factor infertility. 

Some of the recipients of donated wombs will have been born without a functioning womb and others will have lost their womb as a result of serious medical conditions including endometriosis and cancer. 

These two approved series of operations, which follow over 25 years of ethically approved and exhaustive clinical research, must be completed and then carefully evaluated, and peer reviewed, strictly in line with the provisions of our permissions. 

The UK Womb Transplant Research Team is fully aware and respectful of the 2010 Gender Equality Act that mandates equal care for transgender women, assuming technical feasibility.  However it is abundantly clear from all recent experience and  research that technical feasibility for a safe and successful operation for a transgender female, together with the possibility of sustaining a successful pregnancy, does not currently exist and that many years of detailed medical research will be required before this might become a viable and safe option. 

Furthermore, we believe that those commentators who claim that such transgender operations are already, or may soon be, possible, risk causing considerable distress among transgender women by raising false hopes of such an operation being available any time soon.