The Matter of Motherhood

Explore the world of the emerging high-stakes and life-changing medical intervention that made the uterus—long synonymous with womanhood and motherhood—sharable

Uterus transplantation is the fastest-growing transplant field in the world. Multiple clinical trials have concluded, more than 100 healthy babies have been born from transplanted uteri, and research is booming.

The Matter of Motherhood introduces readers to this cutting-edge, “life-enhancing” procedure—one that improves a recipient’s quality of life by restoring capacities that are considered necessary to live well.

Dr. Eric Plemons, the foremost researcher today on uterine transplantation, shares the stories of people who know it intimately:

• The women who longed to experience pregnancy but could not without a transplanted uterus
• The donors who felt they no longer needed their uterus—an organ doctors describe as “the perfect organ to give away”
• The leading surgeons who helped develop the practice through clinical trials

Like any new form of transplant, the procedure provokes expansive debates about justice, health, access, identity, and more. With the uterus, these debates are also entangled with the powerful emotions that accompany conversations around gender, family, motherhood, and reproductive politics.

Throughout The Matter of Motherhood, Dr. Plemons invites us to consider the questions that will arise, such as:

• Who will be qualified to receive a donated uterus?
• Who can be the donors?
• Does this procedure confirm a version of womanhood that requires maternity at all costs?

The experiences Dr. Plemons presents give readers a glimpse of what the future of reproduction can be when the uterus becomes mobile.Eric Plemons, PhD, is a medical anthropologist who studies the ways that surgical medicine has helped to define our bodies’ sex and gender. His work has been featured in the New York Times, The Guardian, the New Yorker, TIME, NPR, and more. He is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona.