Such projects would have to make use
of artificial wombs.
And won't that view change as technology improves to the point
of artificial wombs?
The birth of a cloned human being or the attempt to gestate a genetically engineered baby, the development
of an artificial womb (currently in animal testing), or some other such sudden breakthrough — any of these could awaken the sleeping giant and spark an intense policy brouhaha.
That's the science fiction portrayal
of an artificial womb, where machines gestate our babies, stirring unsettling undertones of inhumanity.
Not exact matches
The lead researcher on
artificial womb technology insists that scientists will never push the limits
of viability to the point where women's bodies are functionally replaced by technology, and human gestation becomes mechanized.
If they developed
artificial wombs, that were capable
of gestating a human fetus, or if we developed the ability to transplant a fetus from one woman to another, those would be analagous, and would present other options instead
of abortion.
In a study released earlier this year, scientists from the Children's Hospital
of Philadelphia detailed
artificial womb technology, which has the possibility
of revolutionizing care for pre-maturely born infants.
Firestone believed
artificial wombs and other reproductive technologies, including gender selection and IVF — both
of which are in use today — were a way to free women from the burden
of being baby makers.
Not only would ectogenesis — the process
of growing a fetus outside a human body in an
artificial womb — save women and babies from those dangers, but just as assisted reproductive means have allowed the rise in fatherless births and mothers by choice, it would also make it much easier for men — gay, trans, hetero, whatever — to have children without needing a surrogate.
So hopefully, in the future, the
artificial womb may become an important step in treating the problem
of prematurity for families.
Induction usually involves a pessary being inserted in the vagina to help soften the cervix or a drip
of artificial oxytocin to help your
womb contract.
In the May 27 SN: Genetic intruders, seeing Chaco in a new light, an
artificial womb, Mars» origin revisited, domestication
of the horse, glimpsing Earth's glacial past, what's in a fang blenny's bite and more.
From IVF to
artificial wombs, why does each advance in reproductive technology still conjure up visions
of monsters or Hitler clones, asks Philip Ball
Researchers have been trying for 60 years to make an
artificial womb or
artificial placenta, says George Mychaliska, a pediatric and fetal surgeon at the University
of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor.
A world in which ectogenesis — the
artificial development and «birth»
of human embryos outside the
womb — is the norm, «and less than 30 per cent
of children are... born
of woman», a world
of ectogenetic parents selected to improve the quality
of the gene pool, advancing each generation in any desired respect «from the increased output
of first - class music to... decreased convictions for theft».
Lambs at a gestational age equivalent to that
of a 23 - or 24 - week - old human fetus had normal lung and brain development after a month in the
artificial womb, the researchers discovered.
Believe it or not, almost all
of those 60 press stories repeated the idea that the impending mammoth resurrection will happen via «
artificial womb».
Overcoming engineering, biology, and technology obstacles, a team
of researchers has crafted what may be the best
artificial womb yet: a fluid - filled bag in which lambs born early can live for up to 4 weeks, before being ushered into the outside world.
Her article, headlined «No, the wooly mammoth won't be resurrected by 2019», debunked the idea that Church's project is creating mammoths and explained clearly both the research limits
of embryos and the reality
of Church's «
artificial womb» claims.
An
artificial womb tested on lambs offers hope
of preventing developmental problems that may arise due to preterm birth.
We sit in «
artificial wombs» (a.k.a. cubicles) for hours at a time not moving and making the front
of our body even tighter.