Last Updated on December 4, 2019
A British lesbian couple has become the world’s first couple to both be pregnant with the same child after both women carried their child in their wombs.
Jasmine Smith-Francis, 28, gave birth to an IVF baby, Otis, after he was first incubated by her wife, Donna, 30, through a world-first shared motherhood/pregnancy procedure, drawing widespread attention.
The treatment, which was offered by the London Women’s Clinic, involves one parent incubating the eggs, while the other parent carries the fetus to term, thus sharing the responsibility of pregnancy and motherhood.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Lance Cpl Donna Francis-Smith said: “We’re overwhelmed to be honest.
“You get a lot of same-sex couples where one person is doing the whole thing, and the one person is getting pregnant and giving birth, whereas with this we’re both involved in a massive way.
“We’re a close couple anyway but we both have a special bond with Otis as well which was helped by the way we’ve done it.”
She added: “It’s my egg, and then they did the egg collection from me and then put it back into my body for 18 hours before being put into Jasmine’s body, and she became pregnant.”
According to The Evening Standard, Lance Cpl Francis-Smith during her 11 years in the British Army served one tour of Afghanistan as well as being stationed in Cyprus.
The couple met on an online dating website in 2014 and were married in April.
Otis was born on September 30th and lives with his mothers in Colchester, Essex, UK.
When they were asked how their baby Otis was doing, Donna said to The Telegraph: “He’s really good – he’s just chilling out. He’s a really good boy.
“Jasmine said he’s going to be an astronaut, but he can be whatever he wants to be. We’ll always support him in whatever he wants to do.
“We’re just happy that it’s worked so well and the information is out there. It will help people in the future – it brings you closer together rather than feeling one has a bond more than the other.”
