Ectogenesis

Ectogenesis of human embryos and fetuses would require an artificial uterus. An artificial uterus would have to be supplied with nutrients and oxygen from some source to nurture the fetus, as well as dispose of waste material. There would likely be a need for an interface between such a supplier, filling this function of the placenta. An artificial uterus, as a replacement organ, could be used to assist women with damaged, diseased or removed uteri to allow the fetus to be conceived to term. It also has the potential to move the threshold of fetal viability to a much earlier stage of pregnancy. This would have implications for the ongoing controversy regarding human reproductive rights.

Ectogenesis could also be a means by which homosexual and single men could have genetic offspring without the use of surrogate pregnancy or a sperm donor, and allow women to have children without going through the pregnancy cycle.

In 2022, Scientists of the Weizmann Institute of Science created early "embryo-like structures'" from mice stem cells.[5][6] The world's first synthetic embryo does not require sperm, eggs nor fertilization.[5] The structure had an intestinal tract, early brain and a beating heart and a placenta with a yolk sac around the embryo.[5] The researchers said it could lead to better understanding of organ and tissue development, new sources of cells and tissues for human transplantation.[5] However, human synthetic embryos are a long ways off.[5] Their breakthrough research was published by Cell on August 1, 2022.[6]

In 2022, University of Cambridge scientists created a synthetic embryo with a brain and a beating heart by using stem cells. No human eggs nor sperm were used. Scientists hope it can be used to create synthetic human organs for transplantation.[7]

The development of artificial uteri and ectogenesis raises a few bioethical and legal considerations, and also has important implications for reproductive rights and the abortion debate.

Artificial uteri may expand the range of fetal viability, raising questions about the role that fetal viability plays within abortion law. Within severance theory, for example, abortion rights only include the right to remove the fetus, and do not always extend to the termination of the fetus. If transferring the fetus from a woman's womb to an artificial uterus is possible, the choice to terminate a pregnancy in this way could provide an alternative to aborting the fetus.[8][9][10]

There are also theoretical concerns that children who develop in an artificial uterus may lack "some essential bond with their mothers that other children have";[11] a secondary issue to woman's rights over their own body.

In the 1970 book The Dialectic of Sex, feminist Shulamith Firestone wrote that differences in biological reproductive roles are a source of gender inequality. Firestone singled out pregnancy and childbirth, making the argument that an artificial womb would free "women from the tyranny of their reproductive biology."[12][13]

• Ectopic pregnancy
• Endometrium
• IVF
• Placenta
• Uterus
• Amniotic fluid
• Apheresis
• ECMO
• Hemodialysis
• Liver dialysis
• TPN
• Tissue engineering

• Coleman, Stephen (2004). The Ethics Of Artificial Uteruses: Implications For Reproduction And Abortion. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Pub. ISBN 978-0-7546-5051-5.
• Gelfand, Scott, ed. (2006). Ectogenesis: Artificial Womb Technology and the Future of Human Reproduction. Amsterdam [u.a.]: Rodopi. ISBN 978-90-420-2081-8.