Artificial wombs - Guardian article

[OldQueen1969]

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jun/27/parents-can-look-foetus-real-time-artificial-wombs-future

I read this when I was barely awake this morning, and apologies if it has been brought up elsewhere.

I am still sorting out my thoughts on the subject as there are benign aspects and also troublesome aspects to the concept.

The science is being developed, and I just wondered what other people thought?

Dr Anna Smajdor says: “There’s an unquestioned assumption that women will have babies, and a failure to notice how bizarre it is that we have to produce new human beings out of our own bodies. And how dangerous that is.”

But women will continue to have babies regardless of what Dr Smajdor says because that is what their bodies do. Even if possible, all she would be doing would be creating a two tier system of pregnancy.

Re: abortion, artificial wombs raise another difficult ethical question. Miscarriage often happens - in humans and animals- because the foetus wouldn't live. If an artificial womb is used, when, and how does somebody make the decision that the foetus isn't viable? Who regulates this?

I went and read Anna Smajdor's article 'In defense of ectogenesis' (this link will download the PDF). There's a section where she touches on the enjoyment of pregnancy as an argument against artificial wombs, and she basically suggests that women only enjoy it because they have to give meaning to their suffering. She suggests that no one (sensible) would choose pregnancy if the end (a child) could be achieved through other means.

I find it quite distressing, actually, how quickly and glibly she discards pregnancy and birth as part of the (potential) female experience. I had a miserable pregnancy in some ways (antenatal depression and anxiety, severe pelvic pain) and though I had a positive birth it took a long time (6 months +) for the site of perineal tear to be free from pain. Despite that, I place immense value on having had the experience of being pregnant above and beyond it resulting in my DD. I feel glad to have experienced the sensations and emotions of pregnancy and if someone told me I could avoid all of the pain and physical damage and still have a child, I still wouldn't choose to miss out on that, and find it quite insulting to be told I was just fooling myself for the sake of reproduction.