UK's First Baby Born After Womb Transplant

A major medical milestone has been reached in the UK as Grace Davidson, 36, became the first woman in the country to give birth following a womb transplant. Her baby girl, Amy Isabel, was born via planned caesarean section on 27 February 2025 at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London.

Grace, who was diagnosed as a teenager with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome—a rare condition that affects about 1 in 5,000 women and results in the absence or underdevelopment of the uterus—received a life-changing womb donation from her older sister, Amy Purdie, in an eight-hour surgery in 2023.

Now, holding her five-week-old daughter in her arms, Grace described the experience as “unreal” and said: “It was hard to believe she was actually here. I knew she was ours, but it was still so surreal.”

The couple named their daughter after the two women who made her birth possible—Amy, the aunt and donor, and Isabel Quiroga, the pioneering transplant surgeon who helped perfect the technique.

“A Quiet Hope” Realised

Grace and her husband, Angus Davidson, 37, said they always carried a “quiet hope” that the transplant would one day allow them to have a child. But it wasn’t until Amy Isabel’s arrival that it all truly sank in.

Angus recalled the emotional moment of meeting their daughter: “After everything we’d been through, it was overwhelming. The room was full of people who had helped us get there—it was just love and joy everywhere. We both broke down in tears.”

A Medical First—and a Beacon of Hope

This marks the first successful birth from a womb transplant in the UK and is being hailed as an “astonishing” breakthrough by surgeons. Professor Richard Smith, clinical lead at Womb Transplant UK and the man who began this research 25 years ago, was in the operating theatre when baby Amy was born.

“I feel incredible joy,” he said. “Twenty-five years of work, and now we have a baby—astonishing, really.”

Isabel Quiroga, a consultant surgeon at the Oxford Transplant Centre, echoed the sentiment: “It’s overwhelming. I couldn’t be happier for Grace and Angus—they’re such a wonderful couple. This is what we work for.”

Grace, a dietitian with the NHS and based in north London, underwent IVF treatment before her transplant to create seven embryos. Several months after the womb transplant, one embryo was successfully implanted, resulting in her pregnancy. During her pregnancy, she took immunosuppressants to prevent rejection of the donated uterus.

A Family Effort

Amy Purdie, Grace’s sister and the donor, said seeing Grace and Angus become parents had been “an absolute joy” and that donating her womb was “worth every moment.”

“I’ve had my own family,” she said. “This was something I could give to Grace, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

Amy, who has two daughters of her own, was 42 at the time of the donation.

What’s Next for Womb Transplants in the UK?

Following the success of Grace’s transplant and birth, three additional womb transplants using deceased donors have already been performed in the UK. Doctors are hopeful that these women will also go on to have healthy pregnancies.

Womb Transplant UK, the charity behind this pioneering programme, currently has permission to carry out 10 transplants using deceased donors and five using living donors. More than 100 womb transplants have been completed worldwide, resulting in over 50 babies, with the first successful case occurring in Sweden in 2014.

Around 10 more women in the UK are currently undergoing the approval process for a transplant, and the programme has attracted interest from hundreds more. Each transplant costs around £25,000, and the hope is that the NHS may begin offering funding support in the future.

Grace, reflecting on her journey, said she hopes to expand their family: “We definitely want another baby. This has been the greatest gift we could have ever asked for.”