A BRITISH lesbian couple have become the world’s first ever parents to share pregnancy of the same baby in BOTH their wombs.
Jasmine Francis-Smith, 28, and Donna Francis-Smith, 30, both carried the embryo of their 2-month-old son Otis after a treatment known as “shared motherhood”.
The IVF procedure, offered at London Women’s Clinic, places a fertilised egg in one woman’s body before the other carries the growing foetus until delivery.
A spokesman for the clinic said that this not only allows both partners a “practical and emotional stake in the pregnancy, but also provides the embryo with important nutrients and other components in a natural, maternal environment”.
Army lance corporal Donna incubated the embryo for the first 18 hours following fertilisation in a lab before it was transferred to Jasmine for the remainder of the pregnancy and birth.
It’s unclear whose sperm was used for fertilisation.
‘It brought us together’
Jasmine, a dental nurse, gave birth to their son on September 30 in Colchester, Essex, where the family live.
Donna said: “We’re overwhelmed, to be honest, it’s blown up massively. 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.
“It’s my egg, and then they did the egg collection from me and then put it back into my body for 18 hours before being put into Jasmine’s body, and she became pregnant.
“Jasmine said he’s going to be an astronaut, but he can be whatever he wants to be. We’ll always support him in whatever he wants to do.
“We’re just happy that it’s worked so well and the information is out there.
What is the ‘shared motherhood’ procedure offered at the London Women’s Clinic?
The London Women’s Clinic first started offering a treatment known as ‘shared motherhood’ to lesbian couples in 2011.
It involved one partner contributing the egg, known as the ‘biological mother’, while the other partner carries the baby and experiences the pregnancy as the ‘birth mother’.
The clinic has now begun offering women the option to incubate the fertilised egg in one partner’s uterus, rather than an artifical environment, for the first 18 hours before its transferred to the second partner’s womb for the remainder of the pregnancy.
A spokesman for the London Women’s clinic said that this not only allows both partners a “practical and emotional stake in the pregnancy, but also provides the embryo with important nutrients and other components in a natural, maternal environment”.
How does the procedure work?
The incubation capsule, known as AneVivo, allowed Donna as the egg provider and capsule carrier to take a major role in the whole process before transfer of an embryo to Jasmine for implantation and pregnancy.
AneVivo is a device (a special catheter) that allows the gametes to fertilise and grow inside the womb of the gestational mother.
The aim of this procedure is not only to allow fertilisation to take place in the more natural environment provided by the uterus, but also to involve the parents or parent-to-be more closely in the process.
The catheter AneVivo, holding the injected gametes, is carefully inserted into the uterine cavity at the correct time of development.
After a period of 18 hours, the device is retrieved, and fertilization is assessed in the laboratory.
From there, the embryos are cultured ‘in vitro’ until they are ready for replacement for implantation in the uterus or for cryostorage.
Can it improve success rates?
Fertility experts say there is no medical evidence that ‘shared motherhood’ provides a greater chance of success.
Dr Jane Stewart, chair of the British Fertility Society, told The Sun Online: “While parents may gain something emotionally or psychologically, there is no medical case for this.
“Devices that enable intrauterine culture are ‘red’ on the HFEA add-ons list, meaning there is little to no evidence that they provide a greater chance of success”.
“It brings you closer together rather than feeling one has a bond more than the other.”
Jasmine, who met Donna online before the pair married in 2018, said the couple were “equal in the whole process.”
More than 100 babies have been born to lesbian couples in Britain but this is the first pregnancy with both parents carrying an unborn child.
While ‘shared motherhood’ can allow the parents to have more of an emotional gain, fertility experts say there is no medical evidence that it provides a greater chance of success.
Dr Jane Stewart, chair of the British Fertility Society, told The Sun Online: “While parents may gain something emotionally or psychologically, there is no medical case for this.
“Devices that enable intrauterine culture are ‘red’ on the HFEA add-ons list, meaning there is little to no evidence that they provide a greater chance of success”.
