Baltimore, MD, USA. Val Smith [N1] is a forty-year old, male to female post-operative transsexual who is pregnant as the result of recent advances in neurobiology and the use of stem cells to grow viable human organs for use as a replacement for failing organs or the insertion of new ones to correct physical errors that occur during fetal development.

Scientists and doctors have used stem cells have been used to grow new kidneys to replace failing ones, new hearts to take the place of dying ones, and sexual genitalia when cancer has taken the old ones.


Ms. Smith, a woman born with Harry Benjamin Syndrome (Obsolete — HBS or “classic transsexuality") is the recipient of both ovaries and uterus. After years of struggling with her sexual identity before being diagnosed with HBS, Smith underwent Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) five years ago in Scottsdale, Arizona. Since then, she has been legally female, a fact her Driver’s License, U. S. Passport, and California birth certificate so indicate.

But she was unable to have children until now.

Smith defended her right to have a baby, saying that she “has a right to a biological child.” In an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey, Smith said that her lifelong desire to have children motivated her to have working female reproductive organs [N2] implanted in her body.

I opted to have my stem cells used because I wanted to have a child. I see pregnancy as a process that fully defines me as a woman. [N3]

Doctors at John Hopkins said that

Although people’s perceptions may be challenged, they have to realize the state of science and the medical art. If Ms. Smith was not born with HBS, would anyone question her right to have new ovaries and uterus implanted in her body to replace ones removed by a hysterectomy? [N4]

Smith’s obstetrician indicated that both mother and fetus are doing well and he anticipates a normal birth in the last week in December.

Doctors at John Hopkins, working with researchers at the California Institute of Technology and John Varley University, developed the technology that makes the implantation of new organs possible.

Stem cells thrive in segments of well-vascularized tissue temporarily removed from laboratory animals. Once the cells have nestled into the tissue’s nooks and crannies, the so-called “bioscaffold” can then be seamlessly reconnected to the animal’s circulatory system.

The new technique neatly sidesteps a fundamental stumbling block in tissue engineering: the inability to generate solid organs from stem cells in the absence of a reliable supply of blood to the interior of the developing structure.

Stem cells in the tissue are induced to become internal, living factory of healthy, specialized cells churning out proteins missing in people with conditions such as hemophilia or diabetes and are now used grow entire transplantable organs such as the uterus and ovaries implanted in Smith.

After Smith went public [N5], she has received death threats, and thousands of hateful comments, many of which still litter the Internet. She continues to receive anonymous hate mail.

Smith and her husband have since retreated to a quiet life in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and are rarely seen now in public, keeping their blinds drawn and monitoring surveillance cameras that surround their property.

Smith says she won’t fear rule their lives and she feels they are a traditional family.

We are a man, woman and child. It's ironic that there was so much publicity. At the end of the day, we're just a family, just the same as anyone else.

I just wish people would be more tolerant to different types of families. I want everyone to know that we love each other and we will love this baby. [N6]