A womb transplant charity in the UK has been praised by former Conservative MP Anna Firth after delivering Britain's first baby born to a recipient of their transplant - hailed as an "absolute first" for British science.
Baby Amy Isabel has made history after her mother Grace Davidson, 36, received a womb transplant donated by her older sister Amy Purdie in 2023.
Discussing the triumph on GB News, ex-Tory MP Anna Firth hailed the birth as an "amazing and heartwarming story", and an "absolute first" for science in Britain.
Firth said: "This is the most amazing, heartwarming story, and it's an absolute first for science in the UK. It's not actually the first in the world - actually, there have been 65 children born through womb transplants.
Grace Davidson gave birth to baby Amy Isabel after having a womb transplant - donated by her sister
Womb Transplant UK / PA
"But not only is this wonderful for the family concerned - what an elder sister to donate her womb."
Highlighting Davidson's Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH), a rare condition that affects around one in every 5,000 women, Firth noted that Davidson's achievement marks a "ray of hope" for other women with the condition.
Firth explained: "There's 15,000 women in the UK who suffer from this Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, where they might have healthy ovaries but unfortunately the womb doesn't work. So this is a real ray of hope for them.
"The real hero here, I think, as well as the sister, is Professor Richard Smith from the Imperial NHS trust.
"He spent 26 years developing this, started a charity, Womb Transplant UK, so this was all paid for through his charity."
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Grace Davidson became the first recipient of a womb transplant in the UK to give birth
Womb Transplant UK / PA
Emphasising the "incredible" work of the surgeons who carried out the transplant, Firth told GB News that the procedure is "not for the faint of heart".
She said: "Doctors gave up their time, for free, 17 hours of surgery. It's not for the faint hearted, but a lovely result.
"And the baby is named after the sister Amy, who donated her womb, and her middle name is Isabel, after the surgeon who essentially transplanted that womb.
"And to do that, you had to connect all of the tiny little blood vessels with minuscule stitches. It's incredible, isn't it?"
As host Eamonn Holmes highlighted that such a procedure is "not available on the NHS", Firth made clear that although it is not yet available via the health service, the work of the charity in helping deliver womb transplants and their first birth is a "very good thing" for "this stage in the game".
Firth told GB News that the birth is an 'absolute first for British science'
GB News
She concluded: "There are going to be a few more of these coming, but they're not going to be funded by the NHS.
"They are going to be funded by charity, which I think is at this stage in the game is a very good thing.
"But it's only if we actually stretch the boundaries, you never know where these incredible surgical advances are going to end. Think about heart transplants - we can all remember when we were young, learning about the very first heart transplant and how many were unsuccessful, and now it's not routine."
The baby was delivered by planned caesarean section on February 27 at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London.
Following the success of the procedure, Grace and her husband Angus, 37, welcomed Amy Isabel, named after her aunt and a surgeon who helped perfect the technique.
