A same-sex couple in the United Kingdom has become the pioneers of what is being called "shared motherhood" by giving birth to a child conceived in both their wombs.
The 'two-womb' baby was born to Jasmine Francis-Smith and her wife Donna on September 30. Though Jasmine delivered the baby, the egg was first incubated in Donna's womb.
The concept of shared motherhood was first introduced by IVF experts from the London Women's Clinic in 2011 in which one woman provides the egg while the other carries the pregnancy.
Now, doctors have taken the process to the next level by introducing technology that can allow an egg to be incubated first in one partner's uterus and then the other partner subsequently raising the foetus in theirs.
According to a report in The Telegraph, over a hundred same-sex couples have successfully become parents through IVF. But this the first time that both mothers got to experience carrying the baby in their wombs. The couple said that the process made them feel equal.
According to Professor Macklon, shared motherhood comes with a lot of psychological, social and emotional benefits for both partners. It allows women to feel "equally related' and form a better bond with the child as well as experience every aspect of parenthood, a report in Cosmopolitan said.
The process could open up a world of possibilities for queer and same-sex couples who want to have children.
