The World Health Organization (WHO) cites that annually , thousands of expectant mothers globally lose their children due to uterus-related problems. Thus, scientists are currently grappling with the idea of an artificial womb so as to provide a solution to the devastating losses incurred by such expectant mothers. An artificial womb provides conditions almost similar to those provided by a natural womb , thus facilitating the development of the f etus (Bulletti et al . , 2011). Nevertheless, th is scientific development has got two major bio ethical concerns. The first concern is that there exists a unique connection between the mother and the developing baby as depicted in the mother’s protective nature and attachment once the baby is born. Unfortunate ly , an artificial womb breaks this connection. Secondly, the issue of population control comes up in the sense that use of the technology will make it difficult to restrain population growth.
Despite the criticism, my take is that the move towards adoption of artificial wombs is justified and should be supported by all quotas of the society. For instance, a ccording to the Prima Facie Duties ethical theory, where there is a prima facie duty to do something, there is at least a relatively strong presumption in favor of doing it (Thiroux & Krasemann , 2014). In this case, the presumption is that artificial wombs are only used to avoid termination of pregnancies, stillbirths and other complications that are related to the inability of the uterus to sustain a pregnancy . Hence, the principle evaluation of the technology ought to be based on its effectiveness to prevent loss of lives and not any other reason. Antagonists of the technology would easily base their argument on the D ivine C ommand T heory which states that the morality of any given action should be assessed bas ed on whether it was commanded by God (Thiroux & Krasemann, 2014). In this case, the responsibility to carry pregnancies was given by God to women, and hence it seems immoral for technology to take over a God-given responsibility. However, in light of the lost lives as depicted by the WHO, this argument is questionable. Thus, when viewed in the context of preventing loss of lives, the use of artificial wombs is justifiable.
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References
Bulletti, C., Palagiano, A., Pace, C., Cerni, A., Borini, A., & de Ziegler, D. (2011). The artificial womb. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences , 1221 (1), 124-128.
Thiroux, J. P., & Krasemann, K. W. (2014). Ethics: Theory and Practice (Updated Edition), 11th Edition.
