Lab Develops Artificial Womb

Meowharishi writes: "According to this article at the Observer, scientists from Cornell University have successfully developed the first artificial womb. Embroys successfully attached themselves to the walls of these wombs and began to grow but were terminated to comply with regulations. Developments like this really offer tremendous opportunities for creating a family for those who cannot have children the old fashioned way."

Comments

Why ethical concerns?

[oregon]

How is this different from a couple's child being gestated in a surrogate mother's womb?

How is this different from a different organ - the kidney - being replaced with external machinery (dialysis)?

How is this different from the prosthetic limbs or the artifical hearts in development?

Our bodies are imperfect and sometimes bits don't work properly or break. We have the means to workaround these shortcomings with technology; in this case, we still need parents to provide the genetic material and, obviously, raise the child once it is born.

Re:This has all sorts of possibilities, bad and go

[AnalogBoy]

In the book "The universe in a nutshell" by Stephen Hawking, he notes that humans developing inside an artificial womb would be able to develop larger brains. (of course, larger brains != more intelligence.. )

Abortion ethics?

[Erich]

Abortions in the third trimester are generally considered unethical (if it could have been avoided) because the (baby|fetus) is to the "viability" point... it is possible that it could survive on its own outside of the mother.

This device makes it possible for (baby|fetus)s to reach this "viability" mark much earlier...

I don't want to start a flame war, but what effect do you think technological advances such as these will have on ethics relating to unborn children/fetuses?

Nine Months in a Sensory Deprivation Tank?

[istartedi]

What kind of psychological impact will it have if a baby is brought to term without any of the rocking, singing, ooh-ah, coo-coo, dinner, conversation, love and life of the mother in close contact? An "artificial womb" will presumably be a dark, enclosed tank with little or no human contact. There is substantial evidence to indicate that prenatal stimulation is important. I wonder what kind of messed up people will come out of these chambers.