Eggs, sperm, and a uterus. All are needed to make a baby, and the first two have long been donated to help achieve pregnancy. Now doctors say the womb can be donated, too.

A New York hospital plans to offer the nation’s first uterus transplants to enable women who lack a womb because of cancer treatment or other problems to bear children.

The wombs would come from donors, just as other organs do. Once a uterus is transplanted, it would be removed after the recipient gives birth so she would not have to continue to take anti-rejection drugs the rest of her life. The hospital’s ethics board has conditionally approved the plans, although the hospital’s president warned women not to get false hopes because a transplant is not expected “any time in the near future.”

Several experts cautioned that much more research must be done, and one declared this bold concept “not really ready for prime time.”