Ethics of uterus transplants debated

Dr.Mnire Akar made medical historybyimplantinga frozen embryo into a woman with a transplanted uterus.

Monday's implant, in Turkey,was the first timedoctors have tried to impregnate a woman with a transplanted uterus.

CBC Radio's The Currentspoke to Dr. Liza Johanneson,a gynecologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, who is working on a pilot project to test uterus transplants in humans.

There are no current plans to carry out such a transplant in Canada, said Dr.Jaques Balayla of thedepartment of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Montreal.

Women who want to carry their babies themselves are watching closely.

The level of medical intervention also raised a host of ethical questionsfor Arthur Caplain,a medical ethicist at New York University's Langone Medical Centre andArthur Shafer, directorat University of Manitoba's Centre for Professional Applied Ethics inWinnipeg.