On Feb. 24, 2026, Womb Transplant UK announced in an historic breakthrough, that a bouncing baby boy has become the first child to be born in the UK after his mother was transplanted with a womb from a deceased donor.

This transplant was one of a planned series of ten similar procedures in an approved clinical research trial initiated and funded by the charity, Womb Transplant UK. Only three babies have now been born across Europe after their mothers received a womb from a deceased donor.

Weighing in at 3.1 kg (6.95lbs) Hugo Richard Norman Powell was born by caesarean section just before Christmas at the Queen Charlottes and Chelsea Hospital in London. Both baby Hugo and his delighted mother Grace Bell are very well. Grace, who is in her 30s, and was born without a viable womb, said it was impossible to adequately thank her donor’s parents for enabling her to carry and give birth to her own child.

Grace, whose partner Steve is also in his 30s, underwent a womb transplant operation at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford in June 2024. Some months later the couple received IVF treatment followed by embryo transfer at The Lister Fertility Clinic in London.

In the UK, one in every 5,000 females is born with normal ovaries but without a viable womb, a condition known as Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Houser syndrome (MRKH). Until recently, these women, and many others who have lost their womb as a result of cancer or other illnesses, were unable to carry and give birth to their own children. Across the UK, it is calculated that at least 15,000 women of childbearing age, are currently unable to carry and give birth to their own children.

Womb Transplant UK runs two transplant programmes: firstly, a series of five transplants where a womb is donated to a patient by a close living relative and secondly, an approved clinical trial of ten transplants of a womb from a deceased donor.

The first ‘womb transplant’ baby. Amy Davidson, was born at Queen Charlottes and Chelsea Hospital in early 2025 after her aunt donated her womb to Amy’s mother, Grace Davidson. Around the world, well over 100 womb transplant operations have now been performed and more than 70 healthy babies have been born as a result.