Beacon Press: The Matter of Motherhood
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The Matter of Motherhood

Uterine Transplantation and the New Frontier of Reproduction

Author: Eric Plemons

A medical anthropologist explores the implications of uterine transplant technology: will this explode our understanding of gender, or underline existing stereotypes?

Healthy children have already been born via uterine transplantation. Through archival research, interview with world leading transplant teams, and intimate conversations with reproductive organ donors and recipients, Eric Plemons, PhD, dives into the heart of contemporary debates about sex, gender, and medicine.

Dr. Plemons is a medical anthropologist and the foremost researcher today on uterine and penile transplantation. He is keenly aware of the questions this new technology surfaces; as soon as researchers began to study the possibility of transplanting a human uterus into a person born without one, they faced questions about who the recipients of these grafts would be. Should doctors make pregnancy possible for anyone who wants it? Must that someone be female?

While the technology has proven effective, it’s difficult to make an argument for its use. In order for doctors to perform any organ transplant, they need to be able to prove that the recipient might die without the organ in question—and simultaneously, that the donor no longer needs it. This is especially complicated in the case of a womb, drawing questions about the purpose of a uterus, the nature of life as a woman, and the meaning of a life worth living. Many of the surgical teams are hoping that the donor might be a transgender man eager to be rid of the uterus he doesn’t want. In considering uterus transplants for trans women, some see the potential for gender liberation, where bodily autonomy reigns and reproductive labor can be shared by all. Others fear dystopian medicine without ethics that will destroy sexual difference, simply because it can.

Dr. Plemons expertly guides his readers through these questions, raising the kinds of questions surgical teams ask themselves as they decide who is qualified to receive this incredibly complicated and high-stakes medical intervention.
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The Matter of Motherhood

ISBN: 978-080701915-3
 Publication Date: 11/10/2026
 Size:6 x 9 Inches (US)
Price:  $28.00
Format: Cloth
Not Yet Published
Will Ship On: November 2026
(Backorder policy)
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