As far as our biomedical
development has progressed, some crucial biological concepts and processes still
puzzle scientists who are not only looking to solve specific diseases and
medical problems, but also to change the way we pretty much perceive ourselves
as human beings, a precisely tuned biological machine.
One of these
concepts is childbirth. The first in-vitro
fertilization (IVF) was carried out in 1977. This created an opportunity for couples
of which the male partner is sterile to use a sperm bank and for women with
different ovary obstructions to be able to raise a child.
Then, in 1985, a
surrogate mother developed a child that was embedded using IVF.
One of the more
recent developments in this biomedical field debuted in 2016 when a child using
DNA from 3 parents was born. The third
set of DNA was mitochondrial DNA from a female donor, as the child’s mother’s DNA carried a genetic disease.
But what’s next?
In Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. Alan Flake and his team developed
the first successful artificial womb for a lamb which was born prematurely. As the
study indicates, their primary research goal is to be able to develop a device that
would decrease “the leading cause of infant death” (Partridge et al., 2017).
The device, of course, has a very long way to go from being used in animal
trials to being actually considered to be used on humans, as it naturally raises
a lot of concerns including ethical dilemmas.
Potentially, such
a device could change not only the way we perceive the process of human birth but the concept of a family or a mother.
This could give an opportunity to have kids to childless couples, same-sex
couples, women who are past their fertility age, and women who are at significant
risk. It could even be a foundation for human space travel and colonization,
allowing to “grow” a population without the need of going through troubles with
pregnancy.
This, however, does raise some
ethical concerns. Who would be allowed to use such a device? Would the person
need to pass any kind of assessment or an interview? Would multiple fetuses be
allowed to be produced? What if some of them face serious developmental issues?
That also makes the issue of abortions even more complicated.
From a biomedical
standpoint, the main concern is the development of the fetus itself. Even
though the aforementioned lamb fetus was developed with no deviations, would
that be the same for humans?
So many questions
to be answered and so many problems to be solved, but that breakthrough made us
one step closer to controlling our very own biological destiny.
References:
Partridge, Emily A., et al. “An Extra-Uterine System to
Physiologically Support the Extreme Premature Lamb.” Nature Communications,
vol. 8, 2017, p. 15112., doi:10.1038/ncomms15112.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrogacy
Very neat introduction to in vitro fertilization. The possibilities are endless. There will be protests and debates at first, but I believe that soon the concept of a family unit will be a thing of the past. When IVF is cheap and convenient enough, no women would go choose to give birth with all that pain, and since no children are bounded to their parents by blood and sentiment, these relationships may become ones of ownership. Thus people would all realize that having babies are economically illogical decision-the cost simply outweigh the benefits, they may transfer these "ownership" right and the right to educate their children to the government (or god-forbid: businesses). Thus, families are no more.
ReplyDeleteP/S: Most people aren't qualified to raise kids anyway. Too many people have daddy issues
Great post that raises a lot of questions in my mind. Childbirth is already so dangerous, for mother and baby. There are so many things that could go wrong that could harm both, during the pregnancy and during the actual birth. I remember reading about the successful artificial womb when the lamb was full-term. This technology is absolutely incredible yes, but I agree, the ethical and medical questions it raises are just numerous. You're right, this technology is far from being developed for humans, but in the meantime perhaps scientists will work on answering some of those questions. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI think this post is very interesting. It certainly brings a different perspective to the idea of IVF than I have heard before. I did not know there was a machine used to develop a lamb fetus in a lab. This concept has already created a lot of controversy in the field and I think it will continue to do so.
ReplyDeleteI really liked that you brought up the ethical concerns around deciding how to use an artificial womb for humans. I can certainly imagine a future where overpopulation is a huge problem, but I can also imagine a future where children who are grown in an artificial womb are discriminated against, and human rights would come into question once again, as they have throughout history.
ReplyDeleteWow, I really enjoyed this post. Not only the content, but it raised multiple questions in my head as well. There are so any ethical dilemmas that arise when talking about birth, especially when artificial wombs are brought into play. Although it is obvious that they could be extremely helpful, however, I feel their use will be hindered by the ethical concerns that surround them.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that as technology advances, the question is slowly becoming not if, but should we. The technology for self driving cars exist and are close to being able to function with 99.99% accuracy. But the questions are how do we handle the ethics? Does a Tesla prioritize the safety of it's passenger or the pedestrians? Does it hit another vehicle or a solid object? These ethical dilemmas are happening across the technological spectrum. This goes to show the importance of people like philosophy majors, to try and sort out these ethical dilemmas.
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