Artificial wombs make it no longer necessary for bearing children. An artificial womb is a
technological device that allows an individual to have an extracorporeal pregnancy. This device
allows a fetus to grow outside the body of an organism whether it is a human or a different
organism. Starting as early as the 1950s, the first design of the artificial womb was developed
by Emanuel Greenberg. He was the individual who created the ideal and hope for aiding
premature babies. During this time, the artificial womb was just a plastic bag filled with amniotic
fluid. This idea serves the purpose of allowing premature fetuses to continue developing without
the need of a mother’s uterus. A fetus is an unborn offspring that develops from an embryo. The
goal of the artificial womb is to provide premature babies with the ability to have a higher chance
of survival by mimicking the mother’s uterus.
An artificial womb consists of the three main components which include a pumpless
arteriovenous circuit, a closed sterile fluid environment, and umbilical vascular access. It is filled
with amniotic fluid which surrounds the fetus inside. Amniotic fluid is rich in nutrients that are
essential to sustain the unborn fetus inside the womb. The growth chamber also has features
such as advanced sensors that contain artificial intelligence. These sensors monitor the fetus’
vital signs while it develops. The artificial womb has a screen that displays red-tire data on the
development of the fetus. The artificial womb houses the fetus for nine months until the fetus is
fully developed. The concept of growing a baby in an artificial environment like an artificial
womb is called ectogenesis. The word, ecto, means outside while the remainder of the word,
genesis, means formation. An artificial womb is useful to individuals who cannot carry a baby
themselves and for parents of a premature baby who could benefit from more time in the womb.
The artificial womb would mimic a normal continuation of gestation as closely as possible and
can save the lives of babies who would currently be too premature to survive.
Ectogenesis can transform reproductive labor while also reducing the risks that come
with it. Artificial wombs allow reproduction to be an effortless process without risks to an
individual's physical health, their economic safety, or their bodily autonomy. It can offer an equal
starting point for individuals of different genders, sexes, and more. An artificial womb can
equalize reproduction, increase the survival of premature babies, and allow for individuals who
cannot carry a baby to have one. In addition, an artificial womb could be used to create the
perfect human being. By engineering an individual from scratch a human being can be
redesigned to be more resistant to diseases, be more intelligent, and be better looking which is
known as “designer babies” or “designer humas”.
Stemming from the science of artificial wombs, comes the concept of an artificial womb
facility where parents can design a child’s weight, height, strength, hair color, eye color,
intelligence. This concept would procure 30,000 lab grown babies yearly. It would provide
parents with an experience where they can see the development and growth of their child
through a transparent womb. In addition, there would be a monitoring app where parents can
keep an eye on their child’s health. This type of technology is expected to spread worldwide in
the next ten to fifteen years. This would mean that parents can freely go to a facility themselves
to design their own child and monitor it through an app.
The artificial wombs however could also cause havoc on the right of women and people
with wombs to access safe and legal abortions. Additionally, it could cause the abortion policies
that are worldwide to be weakened. There are three debates that revolve around abortion which
are the moral status of the fetus, women’s bodily autonomy, and the fetus’s viability. The
method of ectogenesis concurs that fetuses at all stages will be viable which will impact the
debates mentioned above. Individuals who are against abortion argue that the fetus is human at
conception and that abortion is the murder of an innocent person. Individuals for abortion argue
that the individual who wants the abortion has power over their own body and that individual has
the right to devise what happens to it. This makes it morally acceptable to remove the fetus from
their body.
The artificial womb provides an outside ability for a fetus to survive outside the womb.
This ideal affects the moral acceptability of abortion. Ectogenesis would render the fetus viable
at an early stage, even from conception. If ectogenesis becomes available, it could make it
possible for individuals interested in abortion to be transferred into an artificial womb to continue
developing without harming a woman’s bodily autonomy. This option would provide women to
be able to end their pregnancy without resulting to an abortion. If ectogenesis becomes an
available option, abortion will become seen as an intentional killing.
I agree that the artificial womb would be a beneficial technological advancement in the
medical field. Artificial wombs would be able to monitor the progress of a fetus and allow an
individual a chance to catch any issues in development or in the fetus’s health. It would also
give premature babies the chance to fully develop, grow, and survive. Without the option of an
artificial womb, it would take away the chance of survival of a premature baby. In addition, when
a baby is born prematurely their organs are not fully developed yet. For every trimester and
week of pregnancy the lungs, brain, and other organs develop at various times. If a baby is born
prematurely, depending on the time they are born they can lack developed organs. This
prognosis can cause the baby to have issues in the future and can even cause death. With the
artificial womb, premature babies' lives can be prolonged, and they can avoid having
undeveloped organs which could later put their life on the line or cause them other issues.
The artificial womb would provide an opportunity to individuals who cannot carry a child
themselves. It would allow same sex couples to be able to have a child without having to adopt
or have someone else carry their baby. Individuals who usually cannot have a baby would either
adopt or hire a surrogate. A surrogate is someone hired to carry a baby for a couple or other
individual. When the natural gestation process of having children is removed, ectogenesis offers
an equal beginning for individuals of all sexes and genders. For example, queer individuals who
want children will not have to rely on surrogacy. If ectogenesis was accessible and not
privatized, which causes social and economic inequities, the artificial womb could cause a more
prosperous and equal society.
There is a ten-point code created to protect human subjects from experiments. In the
ten-point code, there are two required points that need to be evaluated when conducting
experiments involving human subjects. These experiments involving human subjects must
have, as the aim of the experiment, humanitarian benefits that exceed the risks and have
positive results for society that cannot be procured some other way. The artificial womb stands
by both these points in the code. The artificial womb would aid individuals who cannot carry
their own child and aid in increasing the survival rate of premature babies. Without the artificial
womb, individuals who are not able to have their own child would have limited options and
premature babies would have the risk of death. The use of an artificial womb is a choice that the
individual who would use it would have to consent to after being well informed. As of right now,
artificial wombs are privatized and are not an option for the public to choose from.
If used the right way, the use of artificial wombs is ethical. It is only ethical when used to
provide an opportunity for individuals who cannot carry a baby to be able to have one. In
addition, it is also ethical to use an artificial womb when a baby is born prematurely to provide
the baby with more time to develop and to increase their survival rate. It would be unethical to
use artificial wombs to grow designer babies. It would also be unethical if artificial wombs were
only for individuals who are in a high economic status. This would mean that only individuals
who have enough money would be able to afford to use an artificial womb. This would only
allow the rich to save their premature babies and for them to have children if they cannot carry
them in the womb. This would be unethical because it is unfair that individuals with money can
give their premature baby an increased chance of survival and to be fully developed using an
artificial womb. It would also be unfair and unethical if the rich could design their own babies.
However, designer babies are unethical from the start.
When it comes to designing your own baby, it is unethical. It is unethical to engineer an
individual within this artificial womb to be more resistant to diseases, to increase their
intelligence and design the baby to look the way the parents want them to look like such as a
specific their hair or eye color. This ideal would be unethical and would abuse the privilege of
having an artificial womb. An artificial womb should only be used for those who cannot carry a
child themselves or to increase the chance of survival of a premature baby. This type of
technological advancement should have regulations to prevent individuals from abusing for their
own benefit like designing their own baby. It would provide individuals in a higher economic
status to design their own child, giving them an unfair advantage.
The concept of designer babies goes against the point of the ten-point code that states
that positive results for society that cannot be procured some other way should be the aim of the
experiment. Designer babies go against this point of the code because it only benefits the
individual who is going through with it. In addition, it is going against this point in the code
because there is another feasible way to procure the same results. Another ethical issue
concerning designer babies is that it can exacerbate social inequality. This is because financial
resources are necessary to access genetic engineering, which would cause a genetically
enhanced class of individuals that have abilities and advantages over those without the ability to
afford this technology.