Part 2:
Cultural impacts of ectogenesis.
What would an artificial womb look like?
Research into an artificial womb.
Pessimism of
the future of ectogenesis.
Possible Supreme Court
reactions.
Development of such a device would have profound cultural impacts -- probably
more than can
be conceived of at this time. Dr Scott Gelfand of Oklahoma State
University organized a major international conference in 2002 titled 'The End
of Natural Motherhood?' He said:
"There are going to be real problems.
Some feminists even say artificial wombs mean men could eliminate women from the
planet and still perpetuate our species. That's a bit alarmist. Nevertheless,
this subject clearly raises strong feelings." 1
Zoltan Istvan, a futurist, wrote:
"Of all the transhumanist technologies coming in the near future, one stands out that both fascinates and perplexes people. It's called ectogenesis: raising a fetus outside the human body in an artificial womb.
It has the possibility to change one of the most fundamental acts that most humans experience: the way people go about having children. It also has the possibility to change the way we view the female body and the field of reproductive rights." 2
What would an artificial womb look like:
It would have a main chamber -- an aquarium -- filled with an artificial amnionic fluid which performs the functions of the uterus. It would presumably have transparent walls so that the development of the embryo/fetus could be directly observed.
It would contain provision to deliver oxygen, nutrients, hormones, etc. to the embryo/fetus.
It would have a device for filtering out waste from the amnionic fluid.
It would have monitoring equipment to check such things as the fetal weight, heart rate, etc. 3
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Development of artificial wombs:
There have been a number of ectogenesis programs. usually using animal fetuses:
Dr. Helen Hung-Ching Liu, Director of Cornell University's Reproductive Endocrine Laboratory at the Center for Reproductive
Medicine and Infertility studied the beginning
stages of pregnancy. In 2003, she grew a mouse embryo in an artificial womb almost to full term. 4 In 2011, her team removed cells from a woman's uterus. Using hormones
and growth factors, they were able to grow the cells on:
"...scaffolds
of biodegradable material which had been modeled into shapes mirroring the
interior of the uterus."
Her team has
placed "surplus" embryos obtained from fertility clinics onto this womb,
The embryos attached themselves to the artificial uterus and grew. The experiment
was terminated after six days. Because of existing U.S. in-vitro
fertilization laws, such experiments cannot be continued after
the embryos reach 14 days development. The Cornell University team has no
indication how long a human embryo would continue to develop. She hopes to
develop a complete artificial womb in the future. Research will probably have to be
done in Britain or in some other country because existing federal laws in
the U.S. would prohibit such research. Her goal is to help women who have difficulty initiating a
pregnancy because of damage to their wombs.
Dr. Thomas Schaffer of Temple University worked on the other end of
pregnancy. He attempted to develop an artificial atmosphere which would
save premature babies from death or disability. The atmosphere is a
breathable liquid made of perfluorocarbons which contain more oxygen than
air. He successfully evaluated the fluid on premature lamb fetuses who
were not capable of breathing regular air. He said:
"We have [premature] babies that
are six hundred grams [1.3 pounds] born on a toilet, brought to a NICU
[Neonatal Intensive Care Unit], and survive. Now we can take care of these
children."
He lacked the funding to continue his study.
Dr. Yoshinori Kuwabara of Juntendo University in Japan has developed a
rectangular
artificial womb which is made from acrylic plastic and filled with heated
amniotic fluid. "The fetus lies submerged in the tank womb which replaces
oxygen and cleans the fetus' blood with a dialysis machine connected to the
umbilical cord..." 5 Working with goats, fetuses were
transferred to the machine after three weeks of gestation. 6 That would be equivalent to transplanting a
human fetus at the end of the first trimester. His goal is to help women who
often miscarry. He estimated in 2003 that an
artificial womb for humans could be available within five years, given
sufficient funding levels. It didn't happen. However, by 2014, his team has "successfully gestated goat embryos." 7
Pessimistic views about the feasibility or desirability of human ectogenesis:
At least two experts have indicated that the technical difficulties of
creating an artificial womb may be insurmountable with current medical
knowledge:
Dr. Stanley Korenman, associate dean of ethics at the David Geffen
School of Medicine at UCLA and an obstetrician/gynecologist, said:
"By
the second trimester, fetuses have essentially completed their embryological
development. They have all of their organs. It's in the first 12 weeks when
embryogenesis takes place, and from a purely technical point of view, I find
it a very distant possibility that we will ever understand enough about that
development to be able to control it. I'm not sure we even want to go
there.....A large number of people, I think,
will find this idea ethically unappealing. An artificial womb commodifies
the outcome, the child. It interferes with the relationship between the
mother and child and imprinting that is a part of pregnancy. There's an
intrinsic feeling that it's the wrong thing to do."
Dr. Randy Morris, an associate professor of reproductive endocrinology
and a private practitioner, said:
"The uterus of a pregnant woman draws
about 25 percent of the heart's output, every minute of the day. That's an
enormous amount of blood flow that an artificial womb would have to
duplicate. Beyond that, you'd have to know exactly how much oxygen to infuse
within that blood, how much nutrients and what kinds, what sorts of hormones
and when. I truly doubt we know enough about how to gestate a natural
pregnancy, let alone put all of that into action in a laboratory setting." 8
Dr. Randy Morris, an associate professor of reproductive endocrinology
and a private practitioner, said:
"The uterus of a pregnant woman draws
about 25 percent of the heart's output, every minute of the day. That's an
enormous amount of blood flow that an artificial womb would have to
duplicate. Beyond that, you'd have to know exactly how much oxygen to infuse
within that blood, how much nutrients and what kinds, what sorts of hormones
and when. I truly doubt we know enough about how to gestate a natural
pregnancy, let alone put all of that into action in a laboratory setting." 8
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How would the U.S. Supreme Court react?
Matt Butler Chessen, webmaster of mattlesnake.com speculates:
"How
the Supreme Court would decide on the implantation scenario is totally
unpredictable and could depend on the political leanings of the Court at the
time a decision is handed down. Some scholars argue that the Court would split
abortion law into two categories, one for implanted fetuses, which would be
protected completely, and one for normal pregnancies, which would be subject to
unchanged Roe style pre- and post-viability determinations.
Others believe that the Court, especially a conservatively minded one, would
interpret successful implantation as evidence that viability exists at
conception. In such a situation, traditional mothers would have no right to an
abortion, even though their fetus could not be transplanted to an artificial
womb.
Still another more radical view envisions the Supreme Court developing an
entirely new treatment for abortion law not predicated on Roe v. Wade. An
activist court might follow the suggestion of the plurality in Casey and
determine that the right to an abortion is so fundamental to economic and social
developments that it must be preserved. But this would require a remarkable
deviation from the Constitutional framework of viability that the Court has
already committed itself to." 9
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
Robin McKie, "Men redundant? Now we don't need women either. Scientists
have developed an artificial womb that allows embryos to grow outside the body,"
The Observer (UK), 2002-FEB-10, at: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/
Zoltan Istvan, "Artificial Wombs Are Coming, but the Controversy Is Already Here," Motherboard, 2014-AUG-04, at: http://motherboard.vice.com/
Victoria Woollaston, "Would YOU grow your child in an artificial womb OUTSIDE of a human body? Ectogenesis could be widely used in 30 years," Daily Mail, 2014-AUG-14, at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Paula Mejia, "Fetuses in Artificial Wombs: Medical Marvel or Misogynist Malpractice?" Newsweek, 2014-AUG-06, at: http://www.newsweek.com/
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