Academics who invented artificial wombs to prevent premature babies from dying; In this study, they explain that they first tested this device on fetal lambs.
Researchers say that this device is effective in the development of premature lambs. In fact, according to the observation they made for 1 month, the lambs showed a very good development, just as expected. Here are the details of the research…
This artificial womb device is actually a transparent bag filled with synthetic intrauterine fluid.
There is a machine outside the bag. This is tied to the baby’s umbilical cord (attached to the lamb, as you can see in the picture) so that it plays the role of the placenta, a tissue that develops inside the uterus during pregnancy. Thus, nutrients and oxygen are given to the blood. In addition, this device also allows waste gases such as carbon dioxide to be expelled, in other words, it functions as a dialysis.
We can liken it to a newborn incubator. In addition, this system is completely isolated from the environmental effects that a baby in the mother’s womb may be exposed to. So what do we mean by this? Example; The child in the womb of a smoking mother is exposed to the harmful effects of smoking. Or, the child of a mother who drinks alcohol or uses medical drugs will not be affected positively. Here is the artificial womb; It provides the baby with a sterile environment completely free from these negative environmental factors.
The academics who carried out the research; he says they made this device so that the mother can do everything she does to the baby. In other words, thanks to this device, the growth and maturation of the fetus (the baby in the womb – this stage covers the period from the 3rd month of pregnancy to birth) can be in question.
The researchers explain that they first tried the device on the lamb: Actually, we observed the normal growth phase of the lamb. We saw a normal development in the lamb’s lungs, brain and many visible and measurable limbs. We would very much like to try this device in premature human offspring in three or five years’.
For example, experts keep the lamb in a warm, dark room where they can image it with ultrasound. Then she makes him listen to the heartbeat of a mother. On top of that, the animal really feels like it is in the womb. We can say that the reason why they chose the lamb as a test subject is that they think it sets a good example in terms of human development.
In short, as you can see, the development of the baby is ensured with a completely artificial uterus close to the original uterus. In fact, researchers look at this invention as a miracle of technology. At this point, an important question arises. In fact, a living being in a condition to die is tried to be kept alive because of the motto of the medicine focused on survival, postponing death as much as possible. So how true is this? And if that’s called living…
For example, how can such a device be tested on humans? Would that really be ethical?
Many scientists draw attention to the ethical side of this issue. Dena Davis, a professor of bioethics at Lehigh University, says the device will have painful results if it is tested in humans. Because if the artificial womb fails for a human fetus, it means a lot of people suffer for an experiment. Which is a risk in itself.
“Is it better for a baby to die calmly or die painfully from this device?” Davis asks. So the professor is worried about testing the artificial womb in humans.
Alan Flake, the expert at the beginning of the research, says that ethical concerns should be ignored a little in order to get positive results. According to him, babies can experience various disabilities when they are born too early. For example, it is seen that approximately 90% of those who continue their lives develop diseases such as cerebral palsy (cerebral palsy), mental retardation, convulsions, paralysis, blindness and deafness.
So, according to the expert, living like this is already a bad situation. If a normal pregnancy lasts approximately 40 weeks, this device is used for babies born at 23 or 34 weeks pregnant. What is meant to be explained here is that the artificial womb is actually a device produced to keep people alive in a healthier way. Researchers estimate that approximately 30,000 babies are born earlier than 26 weeks each year in the United States. Just because of this ratio, Flake means that when there are so many prematures and he can help them, there is no need to spoil the work with undue worries.
In fact, Davis adds a new one to his questions: How can parents accept that a baby lives in such a box instead of dying?
In addition, the professor states that even if this technology works, the fine line between fetus and baby may disappear. So what is meant here is: We are either born or die. Is the creature grown in the artificial womb a baby or a fetus? That distinction is blurring, according to the expert. According to him, it would be more accurate to say that they do nothing but try to force someone to die and turn him into a creature in limbo.
In addition, this device can mimic the process of women getting pregnant. Thus, even a pregnant device can be produced, which means that a natural feature unique to women is captured through medical technologies.
Thus, embryos can be grown completely outside the body. In fact, Davis, referring to the 1997 movie Gattaca (where a superior, perfect human race was produced for special missions, playing with genes), says that even such a possibility would be quite dystopian if it did happen. In fact, scientists are currently trying to produce entities such as sperm, eggs and embryos from stem cells. There is also work being done to produce an artificial version of the female reproductive system.
For example, these devices can be used for evil purposes. As you say, Scott Gelfand, a bioethicist at Oklahoma State University, worries that some policies could use this to force women to have abortions. According to the expert’s theory, women can be aborted and then the fetuses taken from them can be placed in artificial wombs.
Again, employers may require women to use an artificial womb to eliminate maternity leave altogether. As you know, birth has become a sector and serious money is being made in this field. For example, insurance companies may offer to switch to the artificial uterus system in order not to cover the costs of birth. From a sociological point of view, the first field to be included in the field of medicine was already childbirth.
In the modern era, births performed collectively at home, in which women benefit from each other’s experiences, have been replaced by births performed by methods such as cesarean section in the company of specialists in traditional times.
This transition period describes evolving into a situation that weakens people’s ability to cope with pain and difficulties, leaving people in need of medical care. With the medicalization of childbirth, women even began to hire birth coaches, with whom they consulted every move they made during their pregnancy.
We can also say that the pregnancy process, which previously developed jointly in daily life, has been defeated by the modern man’s rational (I use this concept in the sense of mechanical reason/thinking here) actions. Thus, all practices related to pregnancy stages began to be determined by people in the expert profile. This has resulted in women not having to think about what would be good for them and their children.
In other words, I can say that birth, which is a simple natural state specific to daily life, has officially turned into a capitalist market and has been included in the health industry. In fact, according to sociologist Barbara Katz Rothman, the technological transformation of pregnancy into an artificial womb isn’t a good thing. Considering the reasons mentioned above, we find this idea of the sociologist logical. Because the sociologist thinks that raising a child in an artificial womb means the rejection of the human-infant bond.
Flake and his team say they are only interested in keeping the premature babies alive, not in producing an artificial womb that can get pregnant. They see the criticisms of other researchers as an obstacle to the progress of science. From a logical perspective, the concerns of other researchers are not unfounded.
So what do you think about this? Do you think it is right that technology goes beyond the natural features of life? You can express your thoughts in the comments.
- Sources: Npr, Nature
- Image Sources: Elle, JSTOR Daily, Popular Science, Neo Life, Futurism, The Independent, Futurism 2, ZME Science, Works In Progress, VICE
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