The world’s first “shared motherhood” procedure took place in the UK. A British same-sex couple had the opportunity of carrying the same baby in both their wombs throughout a single pregnancy. Two months ago, Jasmine and Donna Francis-Smith welcomed their healthy son, Otis, into the world.
The child was born via in vivo natural fertilization (AneVivo). It’s a process that involves the eggs being incubated in the mother’s body instead of externally, like with in vitro fertilization (IVF). A Swiss technology company called Anecova pioneered the AneVivo procedure, but it is carried out at the London Women’s Clinic.
It involves the biological mother’s eggs being placed inside a tiny capsule and inserted into her womb to incubate. With the “shared motherhood” procedure, the incubated eggs were then removed from the mother’s womb and transferred into the womb of the gestational mother who carried the child to term.
Lance Corporal Donna told The Telegraph, “You get a lot of same-sex couples where one person is doing the whole thing, and the one person is getting pregnant and giving birth, whereas with this we’re both involved in a massive way. It’s definitely brought us closer together emotionally. We’re a close couple anyway but we both have a special bond with Otis as well which was helped by the way we’ve done it.”
Dona incubated her egg for 18 hours and then had it removed and placed into Jasmine’s body, after which she was fortunate enough to get pregnant. Statistics for IVF treatments show that the average success rate for women undergoing the procedure is one in four. The couple says they feel “really fortunate” that the process worked in the first attempt “because the reality is that it doesn’t work the first time for a lot of people.”
The managing and scientific director of the London Women’s Clinic, Dr. Kamal Ahuj stated, “London Women’s Clinic has been at the forefront of fertility treatment since 1985 and it’s our great pleasure to report the first birth in the world with shared motherhood using Anecova’s ground-breaking technology for in vivo natural fertilization.”
The founder and CEO of Anecova, Martin Velasco, said, “The Anecova firm believes its AneVivo procedure has the potential to bring significant value to London Women’s Clinic’s already well-established shared motherhood program, particularly since it enhances the emotional value for the couple.”
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority states that the cost of a cycle of in vitro fertilization is typically around £5,000. For women under 35, there is a 29% success rate; for women between 35 and 37, it drops to 23%, and from 38 to 39, it drops further to 15%.
