
Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Regulating uterus transplantation: the United States
ORCID (Links to author’s additional scholarship at ORCID.org)
Valarie Blake: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5440-4022
Seema Mohapatra: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8125-5803
Abstract
This chapter summarizes the legal landscape encountered by the emerging clinical treatment of uterus transplantation. The procedure includes aspects of both organ transplantation and assisted reproductive technologies, yet US law regulates these two types of clinical procedures distinctly, with no historical overlap. Organ and tissue and transplantation laws will directly apply to uterus transplantation donation, yet these laws do not fully address unique ethical issues raised by uterus donation of living and deceased donors. These challenges may be overcome with careful regulation. Still, the procedure encounters an increasingly hostile landscape of state laws that limit access to reproductive care after the overturning of Roe v Wade, and a half-century of the federal right to abortions. Uterus transplantation is an immense medical achievement but the legal system may prevent it from becoming widely available around the US.
Publication Title
International Legal and Ethical Perspectives on Uterus Transplantation
Document Type
Book Chapter
Keywords
Uterus transplantation, Reproductive rights, Organ transplantation, Medical ethics, Clinical ethics, Abortion
Recommended Citation
Valarie Blake & Seema Mohapatra, Regulating Uterus Transplantation: The United States, in International Legal and Ethical Perspectives on Uterus Transplantation 241 (Natasha Hammond-Browning & Nicola J. Williams eds., 2023)