Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think gestation outside the body is a fab idea

184 replies

Allotmentblackfly · 23/06/2025 18:47

Recent research makes the possibility of gestating a baby outside a woman’s body possible. Do we think this is a good idea or not?

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
EmeraldShamrock000 · 25/06/2025 23:47

It is really selfish imo unless suffering from infertility, even then it would be a controversial choice.

Original poster
Allotmentblackfly · 25/06/2025 10:10

Poetnojo · 25/06/2025 10:02

I wonder about the implications in the abortion debate? Every healthy pregnancy could be deemed viable even in very early gestation.

Its really interesting isn't it. The societal implications would be huge.

OP posts:
Poetnojo · 25/06/2025 10:02

I wonder about the implications in the abortion debate? Every healthy pregnancy could be deemed viable even in very early gestation.

Original poster
Allotmentblackfly · 24/06/2025 23:32

Hoardasurass · 24/06/2025 22:42

That's impossible and will never happen.
You really need to step away from the sci fi asap

Show quote history

lol🤣

OP posts:
PickAChew · 24/06/2025 23:29

Allotmentblackfly · 24/06/2025 22:17

Lots of new ideas are not welcomed initially
i think I remember reading that there used to be anxiety about women travelling by train

Show quote history

How on earth did you get a medical degree when you're not even astute enough to appreciate that being afraid of travelling fast was down to not having the data to reassure everyone that it was safe while, now, we know that artificial wombs are a pretty dreadful idea that we should not pursue because we do have the data that enables us to forsee the likely consequences?

Hoardasurass · 24/06/2025 22:51

Allotmentblackfly · 24/06/2025 18:52

yes, it talks about later gestation, but if you read on, it also talks about extragenesis the entirety of the pregnancy as a future possibility. Interestingly, the doctor interviewed in the article refers to childbirth as barbaric. I'm afraid my experiences as a student made me feel the same. Hence my long lasting interest in the subject. Its not the article I began the thread with. I just came across it today. I'm surprised by the hostility my post has brought up. But hey ho. There it is.

Show quote history

That article was written by the same idiot who did the one about implanting functional wombs in men as something that will happen soon.
Btw they haven't even figured out how to keep a womb alive in a man who doesn't have the vascular system that it would need to survive

Pinkflowersinavase · 24/06/2025 22:46

Horrific idea. How utterly anti human!

MrsSkylerWhite · 24/06/2025 22:46

No.
Obviously.

HeyThereDelila · 24/06/2025 22:45

YABU. Please Google microchimarism.

Be very careful what you wish for.

Hoardasurass · 24/06/2025 22:42

Allotmentblackfly · 23/06/2025 22:24

Maybe you are right and our reproductive power is a source of strength. To be fair if women did not have to child bear, what would be the use of two sexes at all!!!! Especially if they can make gametes from skin cells - another thing that they are working on.

Show quote history

That's impossible and will never happen.
You really need to step away from the sci fi asap

CeliaInside · 24/06/2025 22:26

If it ever were possible to choose to have a baby like this, it would obviously cost a small fortune and therefore only be available to very wealthy people.
Even for say a couple of dozen babies, imagine the facilities and highly trained medical staff that would be required to constantly monitor these babies. If they needed medical intervention, that would require a whole new branch of medical care.
These would be human lives (not to get all DrMyCoy from Star Trek about it) - the stakes would be massively high and so would clinical standards have to be.
Apart from the ethical issues, the legal side of things would be an absolute nightmare - way more so than surrogacy even.
There may still be huge medical breakthroughs in preventing/ treating some of the results of childbearing you have mentioned so this might not be as much of a consideration in the future anyway.

Original poster
Allotmentblackfly · 24/06/2025 22:17

MotherOfCrocodiles · 24/06/2025 21:58

Hm I see people are saying this is a “mad scientist” idea. Makes sense as I am a scientist and quite possibly mad.

lol. Me too😊😊😊

OP posts:
Original poster
Allotmentblackfly · 24/06/2025 22:17

MotherOfCrocodiles · 24/06/2025 21:58

Hm I see people are saying this is a “mad scientist” idea. Makes sense as I am a scientist and quite possibly mad.

Lots of new ideas are not welcomed initially
i think I remember reading that there used to be anxiety about women travelling by train

OP posts:
Original poster
Allotmentblackfly · 24/06/2025 22:15

MotherOfCrocodiles · 24/06/2025 21:56

I would 100% have taken this option if it had been available for my pregnancies, which I hated. I fondly imagine the foetus growing in a sac in the airing cupboard.

genuinely it would be a game changer for equality if this were possible

airing cupboard??
id have it in the living room
but i agree it would be great😊

OP posts:
MotherOfCrocodiles · 24/06/2025 21:58

Hm I see people are saying this is a “mad scientist” idea. Makes sense as I am a scientist and quite possibly mad.

MotherOfCrocodiles · 24/06/2025 21:56

I would 100% have taken this option if it had been available for my pregnancies, which I hated. I fondly imagine the foetus growing in a sac in the airing cupboard.

genuinely it would be a game changer for equality if this were possible

Original poster
Allotmentblackfly · 24/06/2025 21:05

ChiefCakeTestertoMaryBerry · 24/06/2025 19:06

Have you read Sex Robots and Vegan Meat by Jenny Kleeman? It has a chapter on this.

No. I’ll search it out. Thanks

OP posts:
Pinkissmart · 24/06/2025 20:36

Motomum23 · 23/06/2025 18:48

Unethical and abhorrent

Nailed it

ShiningStar3 · 24/06/2025 19:08

If we take away the dystopian aspect aside, I can see how some might view this as a win for women's autonomy (no need to go through the risks of pregnancy and labour) but the cynic in me is just imagining social services forcibly removing women's fetuses, or abortion being banned entirely since 'women don't even need to get pregnant anymore, she knew the risks!'

I'll put my tinfoil hat away now..

ChiefCakeTestertoMaryBerry · 24/06/2025 19:06

Have you read Sex Robots and Vegan Meat by Jenny Kleeman? It has a chapter on this.

Original poster
Allotmentblackfly · 24/06/2025 19:04

ChoccieCornflake · 24/06/2025 19:01

Anything is a future possibilty. Does not mean anything will come if it. I would file this firmly in the "not in my lifetime" category

Lol. You are probably right.

OP posts:
ChoccieCornflake · 24/06/2025 19:01

Anything is a future possibilty. Does not mean anything will come if it. I would file this firmly in the "not in my lifetime" category

Original poster
Allotmentblackfly · 24/06/2025 18:52

ChoccieCornflake · 24/06/2025 17:51

That article doesn't say what you put in the OP. It is talking about use from ~20 weeks, which is not even remotely close to full gestation. It's also a journalistic article, not a peer-reviewed publication, so not exactly reliable.

Basically, the guardian wrote an article as click-bait, and it worked.

[edit for typo]

Edited

yes, it talks about later gestation, but if you read on, it also talks about extragenesis the entirety of the pregnancy as a future possibility. Interestingly, the doctor interviewed in the article refers to childbirth as barbaric. I'm afraid my experiences as a student made me feel the same. Hence my long lasting interest in the subject. Its not the article I began the thread with. I just came across it today. I'm surprised by the hostility my post has brought up. But hey ho. There it is.

OP posts:
ChoccieCornflake · 24/06/2025 17:51

That article doesn't say what you put in the OP. It is talking about use from ~20 weeks, which is not even remotely close to full gestation. It's also a journalistic article, not a peer-reviewed publication, so not exactly reliable.

Basically, the guardian wrote an article as click-bait, and it worked.

[edit for typo]

OP posts: