Frankly ... Posthuman  Imagining artificial wombs positively

Artificial wombs are becoming a reality, but we should not be scared. The image of artificial wombs in popular culture has been shaped by dystopian science fiction, like the hatcheries in Brave New World or the human battery farm in the Matrix. We associated them with totalitarianism and everything inhumane and unnatural. But in our decade, they could save babies' lives.

The concept of artificial wombs was first thoroughly discussed in a lecture at the University of Cambridge in 1923 by J.B.S. Haldane, an English biologist. It took scientists more than a century to create something close. In 2017, researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia demonstrated a “bio bag” that could keep lambs alive, which were born at the equivalence of a human fetus in the 23rd week of a human pregnancy. The lambs turned from bald to fluffy in the bags. After being removed from their artificial wombs, they grew up normally.

Prematurely born babies are in grave danger

Although the bio bags are far from what J.B.S. Haldane had in mind, they are very close to the solution that contemporary scientists have been seeking: to save prematurely-born babies. Premature birth, before 37 weeks, is globally the biggest cause of death among newborns. Out of the more than 15 million premature babies born each year, half cannot survive, while the other half are at risk of severe disabilities. One reason for this is that the lungs develop late in pregnancy. In current incubators, doctors have to use ventilators to force air into the lungs of under-developed babies not ready to breathe, which does not work well.
 
In 2019, the EU awarded €2.9m to a research project in the Netherlands to develop a working prototype of artificial wombs for use in clinics. At the Maxima Medical Centre, one of the research teams is building a model in which the baby will be surrounded by fluids. An artificial placenta will connect a catheter to the umbilical cord, providing oxygen and nutrients. The baby's lungs can develop naturally in a familiar environment – with the mother’s heartbeat, as well as similar smell and touch. Sounds just wonderful, does it not?

Difficult ethical questions remain unanswered

But there are new ethical questions, too. To start with: How will the devices be tested? Is it possible to turn off the artificial womb, and in what circumstances? But the most controversial question remains: what if one-day artificial wombs take the place of women’s wombs? What would be the implications in regard to humanity and society?
 
To the last question, Dora Russell, the wife of Bertrand Russell, defended an emancipatory conception of ectogenesis from a feminist standpoint. In an essay on the future of science, she argues that artificial gestation would allow women to be free of pregnancy and giving birth. Thus, they would not be required to perform maternal roles that keep them servile, house-bound, and outside the public sphere. Her husband Bertrand shared the same vision. By freeing women from the necessity of pregnancy, he argued, sex and reproduction would be uncoupled, which would drastically change the imbalance of power in society.

... and what about the right to self-determination?

They did not expect that we are heading for another direction today: artificial wombs are posing new challenges to women’s right to abortion in many countries. If mothers are not allowed to abort babies that can survive outside the womb, artificial wombs could change everything. Does a rape victim have the right to abort a fetus, even if it could survive outside of her? When all fetuses can survive in artificial wombs, would women lose their right to abortion in all circumstances? These are all difficult questions, which will surely be debated for quite some time yet.

 

 

December 2019