The "artificial womb" is coming. Is it going to benefit mankind, or is it violating the laws of nature?

Similar to previous in vitro fertilization, artificial wombs face fierce ethical controversies. Violating the laws of nature, weakening women's rights thereby exacerbating discrimination against women, and evading reproductive responsibilities for people who could otherwise have normal children are the three most discussed ethical issues currently.

According to foreign media reports, this artificial womb is filled with amniotic fluid-like fluid and has its own blood circulation system. The umbilical cord of the fetus will be connected to the artificial placenta to receive oxygen and nutrients. In addition, the research team will install various sensors on the artificial uterus to simulate the mother's body temperature and heartbeat.

Guid Oei, a professor at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and an obstetrician at Máxima Medical Center in the Netherlands, said, "The purpose of the artificial womb is to help extremely premature babies survive the critical period of 24 to 28 weeks."

Guid Oei said that premature babies born at 24 weeks have a half chance of dying, and even survivors are very likely to suffer from lifelong chronic diseases, such as brain damage, respiratory diseases, and auditory and visual diseases. . "If we could extend the development of a 24-week-old baby in an artificial womb to 28 weeks, the risk of death would be reduced to 15%." In 1923, the British evolutionary biologist and geneticist J.B.S. Haldane proposed the idea of ????external embryonic uterus. The idea of ??development or birth. He believes that by 2074, less than 30% of babies will be born to women. Since then, the scientific community has continued to explore and study this, and the most groundbreaking related experiment occurred in 2017. On April 25, 2017, Alan Flake's research team at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia stated that the "artificial uterus" they created passed animal testing for the first time. Premature lambs are placed in a biobag, which looks like a large plastic bag. This biobag simulates the uterus of a ewe giving birth to a lamb, which is filled with amniotic fluid, which is warm water containing salts and other electrolytes. In addition, a robotic placenta is configured outside the biobag, and the blood vessels of the latter are in line with those of premature lambs. The umbilical cord is connected. The nutrients needed by premature lambs are obtained through this robotic placenta. The researchers conducted experiments on 8 premature lambs. When they grew to 105-120 days in the uterus of the ewe, they were removed from the mother's body by caesarean section and immediately put into an artificial uterus, where they were raised for about 4 weeks. During the gestation period in the artificial womb, these premature lambs all developed normally, their blood pressure and other health indicators were stable, and there were no other complications.

Elizabeth Chloe Romanis, a lawyer from the University of Manchester who discusses the bioethics of artificial wombs, warns that the technology will raise questions about who should be treated Selected as a test subject? What are the long-term effects on the fetus being tested in an artificial womb?