The idea of an artificial womb and ectogenesis – a child brought to term outside a biological womb – has appeared in various thought experiments; [1–3] several movies have also shown some frightening scenarios based on this idea. And while some medical sources avoid discussion on this topic [4], other sources choose to address the advent of the artificial womb as a matter of fact [5].
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References
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For example, Julian Savulescu at the International Congress on the Ethics of IVF in London during September 2004 asked the scientific panel to refer to ectogenesis. The panellists just ignored the question.
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As Peter Singer and Dianne Wells remarkably predicted two decades ago. While Singer’s thought experiment on ectogenesis was developed to support an argument about abortion and was not related directly to the technological progress in that direction, they nevertheless, based their idea on a linear projection of further developments in neonatal care.
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In Denmark, for example, consensus has been reached against treating these babies. However, in other countries this is not the case. Saviour acts to keep alive premature babies are highly influenced by pro-life campaigners. In addition, some neonatalogists observe that they cannot know a priori which one of these babies may survive and even get to college (personal communication).
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The first special unit for premature infants was opened in 1922; but in 1988 there were already 600 hospitals in the United States providing 7,500 NICU beds [10]. Paradoxically, the remarkable success of ARTs is the main contributor to NICUs: in Israel, for instance, almost half of the VLBW infants admitted to NICUs are the product of ART, and more than a third of VLBW live-born infants are multiple births. VLBW (birth weight less than 1,500 gram) rates increased from 1.1 percent to 1.3 percent of the total live births from 1995 to 1998. Between 1993 and 1998, the total number of VLBW infants born each year increased by 40 percent Zmora Ehud. 2001 Ethics and Neonatalogy in Israel. The Journal of Clinical Ethics 12: 304–307.
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Improving rates of IVF in the US has also become a competitive target in a free market.
The rate of implantation is low in nature as well. Yet the natural process is cheaper and painless.
The scaffolding dissolved as the cells grew into uterine tissue. The womb was then supplied with proper nutrients and hormones.
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See for example some of the implicit targets in Wilmut and Dominsky [25]. Ongoing research in stem cells, which searches developmental expression of genes, can be found in Ahn et al. [26] and Brandenberger et al. [27]. This list is not exhaustive.
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Reproductive hazards have traditionally been viewed as women’s fate and taken for granted. In this view, Cook, Dickens and Fathalla explain candidly that “maternity is not a disease” but, “an essential function that women fulfil for the survival of our species” [35, p. 29] The problem with this definition of maternity is that although this is not a disease, this is not exactly a very ‘healthy job’ either.
There are differences from country to country. For example, in England two doctors have to agree that the mother’s mental or physical state could be damaged by continuing with the pregnancy. http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/; In Europe some countries are more liberal than others. However, in Cyprus, Israel, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland, abortion laws are still very restrictive, allowing abortion only in cases of rape or foetal impairment, or to protect a woman’s physical or mental health. http://www.ippf.org/regions/europe/choices/v28n2/legislation.htm.
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A British homosexual male couple that hired a surrogate mother in the US to deliver them twin babies, for example, were able to do so because they had the money to pay for it.
Sarah used Agar to have a baby from Abraham; today in countries where the number of children per woman remains high, women may give one of their own children to a barren sister (personal communication).
Moreover, women had babies, even when it was a highly deadly adventure. That is before hygiene, antibiotics and cesareans became available. Most probably, and in most cases, it may not have been women’s choice to become pregnant in the first place. However, it is quite improbable that women’s societal conditioning over the eons towards a gendered biological predetermination would suddenly end in a full stop. Plausibly, most women will choose ‘the old way’ of making babies, at least once.
In the recommendations section of the last report of the President’s Council on Bioethics, the council recommends to do a federally funded longitudinal study of the impact of ARTs on the health and development of children born with their aid. A Report of the President’s Council on Bioethics. 2004 Reproduction and Responsibility. The Regulation of New Biotechnologies. Washington, D.C. www.bioethics.gov. p. 208.
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Simonstein, F. (2009). Artificial Reproductive Technologies and the Advent of the Artificial Womb. In: Simonstein, F. (eds) Reprogen-ethics and the future of gender. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 43. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2475-6_14
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